On January 12 Instant Skips and one of the company's directors, James Grant, both pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates court to charges relating to the illegal disposal of waste. Both parties were fined 1000 and ordered to pay 518.14 costs.
The charges were bought by the Environment Agency under Section 33 of the Environment Protection Act.
For the Agency, Kalbir Gill told the court that on the March 15 2000, Instant Skips supplied a skip to an address in Sparkbrook, Birmingham. The skip remained at this address until May 25, the day it was collected. Prior to it being collected, Mr Grant telephoned the customer on several occasions, requesting payment for the skip, which was refused.
On May 25, an Instant Skip lorry pulled up outside the address where the skip had been hired. The driver of the lorry asked a witness who was not the owner of the house if he was going to pay for the skip. The witness said that it was not his skip and nor was it his rubbish so he was not going to pay for it. The driver then proceeded to tip the skip's content into the street. Mr Grant later admitted he instructed his employee to do this.
In mitigation, it was stated that that the waste was household waste and non-toxic and that the company had helped the Agency with its enquiries and had entered an early guilty plea.
An Environment Protection officer, Adrian Watkins, who was involved in the investigation, said after the case: “Waste companies must always respect their obligations to follow all environmental legislation which covers their operation. In this case, Instant Skip failed to do this and this prosecution and subsequent fines should be a warning to other companies that whatever the circumstances, they must handle and dispose of waste in the correct and proper manner.”
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