A Surrey skip hire company has been ordered to pay £7,693 after admitting it was operating illegally.

Peter Mason Skip Hire Limited, based at North Moors, Slyfield Industrial Estate, Guildford, pleaded guilty yesterday to two offences at Guildford Magistrates’ Court. The first offence related to the depositing, permitting, keeping and treating of controlled waste, and the second related to the operation of a waste facility without an Environmental Permit.

The company was ordered to pay a total of £3,400 in fines for knowingly allowing the deposit of waste at their site contrary to Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act, and £3,000 for operating without a permit. They were also ordered to pay costs of £1293.82.

Environment Agency officers first visited the North Moors site on 13 January 2009. The company director Mr Peter Mason allowed them to inspect the premises, and accompanied them on site. Environment Agency officers found skips of domestic and commercial waste and a large pile of soil and rubble. Waste included soil, rubble, metal, plastics, green waste wood and polystyrene.

Mr Mason was interviewed after being cautioned and admitted all the waste had been imported by his company, and his reason for not obtaining a licence for waste management activities was that there had been a pre-Christmas rush in collections. Mr Mason agreed to reduce the volumes within four weeks and the officers informed Mr Mason that they would re-visit the site after that period.

The next visit took place on the 16 February 2009. Environment Agency officers reported the site looked much the same as the previous visit. They found 100 cubic metres of soil and rubble on the ground and approximately 247 cubic metres of assorted domestic and commercial waste in skips. Mr Mason was not interviewed again but in a letter to the Environment Agency he said that bad weather conditions were a contributing factor to the slow progress in removing the waste.

The company has one previous conviction from 2003 in which they were prosecuted at Guildford Magistrates Court under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act for illegal waste activities and fined a sum of £4,500. The company were aware of regulations regarding waste sites as they had previously applied for permission to use land as a waste transfer station in 1995, but permission was never officially taken up.

Environment officer Martin Sawyer said: “This company have been operating in the waste industry for many years and are therefore well aware of the requirements to obtain the appropriate permits to operate waste transfer stations. They were able to increase their profit margins by failing to pay the appropriate licence fees and also avoiding the payment of many thousands of pounds which would have been required for infrastructure work before the permit was issued. As this is not the first time the company has been prosecuted, they have no excuse for not knowing their responsibilities.

“We are committed to creating a level playing field for all legitimate waste operators. Waste companies should be aware of the correct way to run their sites to ensure they are not harming the environment or breaking the law. Anyone in any doubt as to their liabilities should contact us immediately for further guidance.”