Haulier pays price of waste tip error

By Chris Tindall

A Plymouth haulier has had to pay fines and costs of almost £21,000 after failing to check what the limits were for tipping controlled waste.

KPT (SW), which operates out of a base in Plympton, was ordered to pay a fine of £6,667 after it pleaded guilty at Plymouth magistrates’ court to depositing controlled waste.

The haulier was also ordered to pay £3,180 in costs and a further £11,109 for the economic benefit gained when it transported the waste to land belonging to Philip Skelley.

KPT had claimed that it thought the limits of soil deposits were higher, but investigators told the court the figures were clearly set out.

Skelley held a certificate allowing for up to 1,000 tonnes of soil and stones to be deposited on his land, but the Environment Agency (EA) found more than 14,500 tonnes had been dumped, the majority by KPT, between January 2019 and October 2020.

Haulage director Jacqueline Kingwell said it was aware of its duty of care over the difference between permitted and nonpermitted waste and it wrongly thought it could tip 10,000 tonnes under two exemptions.

Skelley was fined £1,340 and ordered to pay £94,000 for the economic benefit he gained, plus costs totalling £6,380.