The owner of a house clearance business ‘drowning’ with rubbish has been handed a suspended jail sentence after illegally dumping waste at an isolated site in South Lincolnshire, Lincoln Crown Court heard.
Simon Mason, who advertised himself as ‘A1 Man with a van – No job too big’, collected general household waste and fridges from customers who believed he was lawfully disposing of the items. But Mason stored the waste on land owned by his father at Curly Worlds End, Holbeach and illegally burned it.
Sarah Dunne, prosecuting, said the Environment Agency initially visited the site in April 2018.
She told the court: “There was a large amount of waste. There were 360 fridges some of which had been burned. There were also large quantities of different types of waste. “He said he collected waste from house clearances and people had paid him to take away fridges. He accepted he had burned some of the waste. “He was told to stop taking waste and remove the waste that was there. That was followed up in writing. He asked for time to clear the site and was given it.”
Miss Dunne said Environment Agency staff visited the site on five further occasions during 2018 but it was clear Mason was continuing to operate his business. Mason was given a warning he faced prosecution and Miss Dunne said: “By November 2018 the Environment Agency’s patience was largely exhausted. Officers attended at the site and found 634 fridges and over 700 cubic metres of other waste.”
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The moral of the story; always check that your house clearance company is registered with The Environmental Agency to ensure that your waste is disposed of responsibly. Fly tipped waste can be traced back to you and you could be fined £5,000!
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