The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
Ashley Pryer trades as ‘Alfie’s Skips’ from an industrial estate in the Dorset village of Drimpton. As a registered waste carrier he is permitted to transport various wastes to licensed sites for sorting and disposal. However, he is not allowed to store and sort waste materials at his site as he doesn’t have the necessary planning permission and permit.
On September 29, 2011 and Agency officer visited Axe Mill Industrial Estate, Drimpton and found evidence of waste being transferred from skips and sorted. Wood and metal had been removed for recycling and recovery and there was a large pile of rubble on the ground. A swing shovel machine was being used to remove waste from skips.
Ashley Pryer said prior to January 2011 he took waste collected in his skips to a licensed waste transfer station in Beaminster, Dorset, but this had become unprofitable so he began using his own site for sorting and storing waste.
Further checks revealed the defendant was also illegally storing waste in a private car park next to his home in Crewkerne.
“Waste transfer stations receive many kinds of waste so it is important operators hold the necessary environmental permits and permissions to safeguard human health and the environment. Owners of illegal sites also undercut legitimate waste operators,” said Catriona Bogan for the Environment Agency.
Appearing before Yeovil magistrates, Mr Pryer, of South Street, Crewkerne, Somerset, was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £1,917 costs after pleading guilty to two offences of operating an illegal waste operation at Axe Mill Industrial Estate in breach of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.
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