Five times in one month large waste piles were dumped illegally outside business sites in Essex and London from a vehicle owned by Patrick Joseph Egan.

Egan, 30, of Grange Road, Grays pleaded guilty at Basildon Crown Court on Monday 8 October to 3 charges of illegally dumping waste using a lorry at sites not permitted to accept it. He was disqualified from driving at the time of the offences and also admitted 2 further charges of ‘knowingly causing’ the deposit of waste at 2 other locations.

Egan, who is currently serving a prison sentence for similar offences in Beckton in the borough of Newham London Borough Council, was sentenced to a further 2 weeks for each of the 5 offences. These will run concurrently and be added to his current sentence.

Waste was dumped from a lorry outside a business unit on an industrial estate on Motherwell Way, West Thurrock on 4 October 2017 in front of 2 eye witnesses.

On that day, the same vehicle (owned by Egan) was seen reversing into Stifford Clays Road, Grays, the address of an Anglian Water Pumping Station. A witness realised waste had been tipped from the lorry, but couldn’t identify the driver.

Later that day, the same type of waste was found dumped at the main entrance gate to Tilda Ltd, in Coldharbour Lane, Rainham. The driver could not be identified.

The following day on 5 October a further pile of waste was discovered dumped illegally outside the closed gates of Barking Power Station. The offence, which took 2 minutes to commit, was caught on camera and identified the same heavy goods vehicle, driven by Egan.

Less than 2 weeks later on 18 October Egan dumped a pile of waste at the same Motherwell Way West Thurrock Industrial Estate in front of 2 eye witnesses.

Just 2 days after that Egan was stopped by Essex Police and his vehicle seized. It was carrying waste.

Landlords of the sites had removed the dumped waste at their own expense.

The court heard that Egan has a previous conviction for operating without a waste carriers licence in January 2017.

After the hearing Enforcement Team Leader Lesley Robertson said:

Fly-tipping is a blight on the countryside. When the amount of waste tipped is this significant, it is not just an eyesore or a huge inconvenience for those whose land have been dumped on, it is waste crime. Waste criminals undermine legitimate businesses, often leaving those dumped on to foot the clean-up.

Mr Egan seems to have had little regard for these people, the public at large or the environment. He was disqualified from driving at the time but dumped lorry loads of waste across Essex and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and allowed his vehicle to be used for the same purpose by others.

Anyone who transports or disposes of waste has a Duty of Care to ensure waste is handled correctly and taken to a legitimate permitted facility. Businesses and individuals must check that the person taking away their waste is registered to do so. Egan was not.

If anyone has any information about waste crime they can report it on the Environment Agency’s incident hotline 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

A man from Middlesex has been prosecuted after being caught on film dumping waste on private land in Romford.

Brian Christopher Stokes, of Lyncroft Avenue, Pinner, was charged with dumping waste without an environmental permit, contrary to section 33 (1) (a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

At Barkingside magistrates’ court on Friday 5 October, district judge Gary Lucie sentenced Stokes to 100 hours’ unpaid work, ordering him to pay costs of £1,500, and an £85 victim surcharge.

The court heard Stokes was captured on CCTV controlled by Havering Borough Council, arriving on private land at the old Decathlon site in Angel Way, Romford, Essex, on 14 July 2016. Stokes was filmed driving a white dumper truck to the rear of the site, emptying the contents, described as “building materials in heavy duty bags,” from the truck to the land. He’d previously removed the vehicle’s number plates.

Enforcement officers from Havering Council passed the CCTV footage to the Environment Agency and Metropolitan Police. On 21 July 2016, police officers attended a different location in Romford. The same vehicle used by Stokes a week earlier was seen being driven onto this site. Officers identified Stokes as the driver.

District judge Lucie heard the Angel Way site, went from “being completely clear to being full to the brim of waste,” although Stokes was only responsible for some of the waste dumped there.

Simon Graham-Harrison, who brought the case against Stokes for the Environment Agency, said:

Stokes’s actions showed a blatant disregard for the environment. In cases like this, where the actions of individuals threaten to undermine legitimate waste businesses, we have no hesitation in prosecuting those involved.

To ensure that the right waste gets to the right place, we encourage the public and businesses to check that their waste carrier is registered on www.gov.uk, and to ask to see a copy of the waste transfer note for the waste. If possible, take a photo of the note on your phone.

Stokes pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

A list of registered waste-carriers can be checked online here.

Healthcare Environmental Services, which services the NHS and operates six sites across England, has been found in breach of environmental permits by the Environment Agency (EA) .

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is leading on the government response whilst the EA is taking enforcement action against the operator.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

The Environment Agency has found Healthcare Environmental Services to be in breach of its environmental permits at sites which deal with clinical waste. We are taking enforcement action against the operator, which includes clearance of the excess waste, and have launched a criminal investigation.

We are supporting the Government and the NHS to ensure there is no disruption to public services and for alternative plans to be put in place for hospitals affected to dispose of their waste safely.

Further briefing:

• The Environment Agency has found Healthcare Environmental Services in breach of its environmental permits at 4 of its 6 sites which deal with clinical waste – by having more waste on site than their permit allows and storing waste inappropriately.

• We are taking enforcement action against the operator to clear the excess waste from their sites and bring the company back into compliance with their permits.

• As part of our enforcement activity, we have partially suspended the company’s permit at one of their sites. This will prevent them from accepting any more incinerator-only waste in order for them to clear the backlog of waste on-site. We are also progressing with enforcement action at the other non-compliant sites.

• We are supporting the government and the NHS to ensure there is no disruption to public services and alternative plans are put in place for hospitals affected to dispose of their waste safely.

• The offending sites are not accessible to the general public and there is no risk to public health or the environment.

• It is the company’s responsibility to clear its sites and operate legally. As the regulator, we have set out a timeline for clearance of the waste and are carrying out regular inspections at each of the company’s sites to monitor the situation.

• There is industry wide agreement that overall there is sufficient incineration capacity. Incinerator shutdowns do occur for maintenance, but this is mostly planned and companies should have contingency plans in place. We have recently carried out an audit of permitted sites dealing with clinical waste which indicate a high level of compliance in this sector – the majority of sites are operating at the expected level or above.

• The Environment Agency has taken a range of action with the company to bring their sites back into compliance but they have repeatedly breached permits and continued to operate unlawfully. As a result, in addition to our enforcement activity to clear the sites, the EA has launched a criminal investigation.