Man to pay ?26000 after ‘deliberately flouting the law’ with illegal …

Martin Robert Hindmarsh, from Stokesley, appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 4 July where he was found guilty of operating a waste site without a permit, failing to produce waste transfer notes, and failing to comply with a notice to clear the site of waste. 

Hindmarsh was fined £9,231 and ordered to pay £2,300 costs, and was also disqualified from being a company director for two years. An order was also made against Hindmarsh to clear the site by 4pm on 31 December.  

His company, B8 Waste Management Limited, which pleaded guilty to operating a waste site without a permit, was fined an additional £9,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000. 

The court heard that Hindmarsh had asked the EA for advice in May 2021 over operating a waste transfer station at the Middlesbrough site, with the agency responding that he would need a permit first. 

Then in October 2021, the EA said that it visited the site after receiving reports of vermin and large quantities of waste at the site which officers then confirmed – spotting 100 tonnes of mixed commercial and domestic waste, including fridges, freezers and PVC window frames.

As there was no environmental permit for the site, officers demanded Hindmarsh clear the site and gave him “numerous opportunities” over the next six months to comply, according to the regulator. 

An official notice was served in May 2022, where Hindmarsh was ordered to clear the site by 24 July, but a visit the next month saw this had also not been complied with. 

The EA said it issued a second notice ordering that all waste transfer notes be produced in December, but according to the EA as of the trial this had not been complied with. 

Gary Wallace, area environment manager for the Environment Agency, said: “Environmental permits are in place to protect the public and environment and we told Hindmarsh no waste operation could start without one. No permit was ever applied for, with Hindmarsh and the company he ran deliberately flouting the law.

“He ignored much of the communication from our officers telling him to cease activity and clear the site, and despite making numerous commitments, each time officers attended nothing had changed.

“Illegal activity such as this undermines legitimate businesses that work hard to operate within the regulations, as well as putting the environment at risk and impacting on the local community.

“I hope this sentence sends out the message to others that trying to bypass environmental laws for financial gain can ultimately end up being significantly more costly.”