An Oxfordshire haulage company owner and the landowner of a mushroom farm have been ordered to pay a total of £21,000 in fines and costs for illegally depositing 3,000 tonnes of waste at the farm’s site in Bampton.

Francis Stewart-Wood, the Director and landowner of Elmwood Farm, Aylesbury Mushrooms (Farms) Ltd, and Stephen Radband, a Director of SJ Radband Haulage Ltd, appeared before Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (18 June) to be sentenced for their roles in the illegal operation.

Case details

The court heard that Environment Agency (EA) officers were first alerted to the site’s illegal activities after receiving reports of lorries carrying waste to the farm at Black Bourton in Bampton.

On inspection, officers found that approximately 3,000 tonnes of trommel fines, a controlled waste that is produced at the end of mechanical separation and can contain various contaminants, including gypsum, had been illegally deposited at the farm.

According to the EA, the waste had been purposefully misdescribed in order to justify its use as a growing medium compost for Stewart-Wood’s mushroom farm, and to avoid paying legitimate waste disposal fees.

The material was reportedly sourced from a waste transfer station run by waste management company Powerday plc in Neasden, West London. The company pleaded guilty to related offences at a court hearing in April 2014, and is set to be sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on 21 September.

The EA told the court that the farm did not have an environmental permit or the relevant exemption for the waste to be deposited and that SJ Radband Haulage had failed to exercise due diligence in ensuring that waste had been properly described and that the farmer had an environmental permit (or an exemption for the waste to be deposited there).

As such, the court stated that Stewart-Wood and his company had acted recklessly and Radband had been negligent in committing the offences.

Sentencing

After taking into account the defendants’ financial situations, the court fined Stewart-Wood £10,000 and Aylesbury Mushroom Farms Ltd £4,000. The judge also ordered them to pay a contribution of £2,000 each toward the costs of the prosecution.

Radband was fined £1,600 and ordered to pay £2,000 towards prosecution costs.

The sentencing follows on from the prosecution of waste haulage company Fred Sherwood and Sons (Transport) Ltd, which was also involved in illegally depositing waste at the farm and failing in its duty of care. The company was fined a total of £27,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000 last year.

‘Zero tolerance for companies who misdescribe their waste’

Speaking after the latest hearing, Ian Finnegan, Waste Crime Enforcement Officer for the Environment Agency, commented: “We take a zero-tolerance approach to companies who misdescribe their waste and deposit it illegally. It puts the public and the environment at risk, as well as costing the taxpayer and honest businesses.

“We are currently working with other enforcement agencies including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to stop this continuing illegal behaviour.

“Anyone who has information on the misdescription of waste and its illegal disposal can contact us on 0800 807 060 or call crime stoppers anonymously.”

Find out more about classifications of waste and how the government is cracking down on waste crime.