50 tonnes of waste was set alight including materials which were not supposed to be burned.

A waste management firm burned 50 tonnes of waste illegally on bonfire night to make up for cancelling the staff’s Christmas party.

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Drury’s Transport and sister company Southrepps Developments will now have to pay out over £40,000 after an attempt to reduce costs by scrapping the company’s festive get-together went wrong.

The directors of the two firms Michael Drury and Kevin Robotham admitted breaching environmental laws at Norwich Magistrates’ Court yesterday afternoon.

Staff at the firm spent months building a bonfire the size of a two storey house to celebrate Bonfire night on Lyngate Industrial Estate on Folgate Road.

But North Norfolk Council received almost 300 calls about the pile of waste and subsequent fire which let off potentially carcinogenic smoke for days in November 2010.

Despite only having permission to burn wood the mound included glass doors, metal cables, plastics and window panels.

When one council officer inspected the site they described it as “a scene from Armageddon”.

The council was first called about skip hire and transport firm Drury’s on November 5 2010 and when they visited the industrial ground they found illegal waste in the 50 tonne pile.

Emma Duncan prosecuting told the court the council officer inspected the pile and warned director Mr Robotham that it contained loft insulation, metal and plastic.

Workers attempted to take some of it out and a skip was filled with the waste, but much of the plastic in the middle of the pile not taken out.

Mrs Duncan said it would have cost the firm around £4,500 to get rid of the waste legally.

And when lit on Bonfire night for a family celebration black plumes of smoke pummelled out of the site where the workers’ families had gathered to celebrate.

The firms’ directors apologised for the fire yesterday and admitted breaching two environmental laws - allowing waste to be transported onto the land and burning waste without a permit.

Their solicitor Rebecca Carriage said the company had not intended to pollute the area by burning the illegal materials and it had been a management oversight.

She said: “The idea was the bonfire would be the centre piece of the party.

“There was nothing sinister about the bonfire. There was no deliberate attempt to go out and avoid costs.”

She said the firm was facing financial difficulties and warned the court hefty fines could lead to redundancies amongst the 32 staff.

But chair of the bench, Peter Brown, described the two companies’ actions as “reckless”.

Southrepps was fined £10,000 and made to pay the council’s court costs of £3,679.

Drury’s Transport, which was set up in 1993, was fined £24,000 for its two breaches and made to pay costs taking its bill to £27,702.