IAN CLARKE A skip hire firm has been ordered to pay more than £9000 in fines and costs after admitting operating without a waste licence and transferring waste without the correct paperwork.

IAN CLARKE

A skip hire firm has been ordered to pay more than £9000 in fines and costs after admitting operating without a waste licence and transferring waste without the correct paperwork.

Toftrees Ltd, of Hawthorn Cottage, Toftrees, near Fakenham, admitted two offences during last December under the Environmental Protection Act.

King's Lynn magistrates heard that Environment Agency officers visited the company's site last year and found that various types of waste had been treated there through sorting, dismantling and cutting up and in the past Toftrees had been told a waste management licence would be needed.

But company director Mark Balderstone said he had not made an application for a licence as it was too expensive and the form was very complicated.

The court was told that Mr Balderstone had later complied with a notice to remove the waste from the site and dispose of it properly.

After the case, environment team manager Bridget Marr said: “People who choose to operate where there is a need for environmental regulation should comply with it.

“By illegally treating waste the company was undermining legitimate waste operators who pay to dispose of waste at properly licensed waste facilities.”