Skip hire operator handed 14-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, for mishandling waste that led to serious fire.
Paul Sellars, 65, pleaded guilty to operating a waste facility outside its permitted boundaries between October 2023 and August 2024, accepting unpermitted waste and storing it unsafely, and accepting waste after his permit had been suspended.
District Judge Nick Watson said Sellars had shown a ‘flagrant disregard’ for the law by taking waste and not storing it safely.
The court heard that Sellars had operated a skip hire business in the Midlands under an environmental permit allowing him to accept and transfer household, commercial and industrial waste.
In 2024, a fire broke out at the site involving a four-metre high waste pile that was thought to be caused by a discarded lithium-ion battery.
It took fire crews over three hours to extinguish the blaze, which occurred only a day after the Environment Agency served a suspension order on the site.
In 2023, Rutland County Council cancelled a contract with the company over concerns about the volume of waste on site and the safety of operatives and drivers.
The Environment Agency says that despite repeated verbal and written warnings, Sellars continued to accept waste and ignored two notices to remove excess material from the site.
At Leicester Magistrates’ Court, Sellars was handed a 14-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £400 towards costs, as well as a £154 surcharge.
He was also ordered not to carry out any work involving waste activities, whether as a volunteer, sole trader, partner, or director, for two years.
He also cannot apply for a waste carrier licence or to apply to be registered with the Environment Agency for any waste exemption.
