Environment Agency
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Company and director to pay over £30,000 for waste offences
On 24 March 2016, D Jordan Road Brush Hire Ltd and David Thomas Jordan appeared at Worcestershire Magistrates Court for waste offences.
The charges were brought by the Environment Agency contrary to Regulations 12 (1) and 38 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.
The company’s sole director, 41-year-old David Thomas Jordan, of Crutch Lane, Droitwich Spa was sentenced for 2 offences of consenting to the company’s illegal waste operations. He was fined £4,140.
The charges were brought by the Environment Agency contrary to Regulation 41 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.
The Environment Agency investigation
The charges related to incidents at 2 separate sites. The first was Station House, Hanbury Road, Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire. The second was Dodderhill Equestrian Centre, Bays Meadow, Droitwich Spa. Station House is owned by David Jordan as a private individual. Dodderhill is owned by the company.
Environment Agency officers visited Station House on the 27 January 2015 and noted several large piles of waste material ranging from wood, old tyres and waste batteries along with construction/demolition type soil and mixed commercial waste. They also noted oil drums lying upside down and saw that industrial oil had leaked out onto the ground.
Investigations found that the company had been operating a skip hire business from the site and was sorting collected waste. The T4 waste exemption registered at Station House did not permit the company to treat mixed commercial waste.
On the 14 February 2015 officers visited the Dodderhill Equestrian Centre where the company’s road sweeping lorries were stored. Officers observed one of Mr Jordan’s road sweepers arrive on site and deposit a load of road sweepings onto the yard surface. There were skips of metal waste, mounds of straw and manure on the site as well as evidence of the burning of waste. The road sweepings and manure were dewatering and the resulting waste water had flowed into a surface water drain causing discharges of muddy water from drains in a residential area further down the sewer line.
The U1 waste exemption at Dodderhill did not permit road sweepings and manure to be deposited, treated or stored on site.
Comments by the investigating officer
Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said:
Illegal waste sites have the potential to cause serious pollution incidents or harm human health. This prosecution demonstrates that we take waste crime very seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute if necessary, to protect the environment and local communities.
In mitigation, the court heard that both parties pleaded guilty to the offences and that neither the company nor Jordan had any previous convictions for environmental offending.
Notes to Editors:
Previous convictions/ cautions: The company was formally cautioned in 2011 for illegally discharging water contaminated with road sweepings into a surface water drain.
