A Bedfordshire man has been fined £8000 and ordered to pay £1359 costs for illegally storing four tonnes of roof sheeting.

Anthony Julian West from Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire was charged with two offences, the first related to storing asbestos without a licence and the second related to the removal of the asbestos from a farm in Odell without notifying the Environment Agency.

Waste roof sheeting containing asbestos is classed as hazardous waste because asbestos can cause cancer and other respiratory diseases so there are strict requirements for its movement from the site of the origin to its final disposal point and this should be notified to the Agency.

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The offences came to light, magistrates were told, because staff from the Agency were aware that a barn with a cement bonded sheet roof at Odell was being demolished and knew there was a strong possibility that asbestos would be present.

Investigations led them to land off Park Lane at Sharnbrook which belonged to West. He originally denied carrying out any demolition work at Odell, then agreed that he had taken away scrap metal from the Odell site, but not asbestos roof sheeting. He did not have any paperwork relating to the removal of the scrap metal.

Magistrates were told that West had put the owner of the Odell site at risk of prosecution for breaching his duty of care obligations to make sure his waste was taken to a proper place for disposal. West had told him that part of the cost for demolishing the barn was to pay the high cost of disposing of asbestos.

West had not had the roof sheeting checked for asbestos and was reckless as to whether or not it did contain any.

After the hearing Environment Officer Laith Yasseen said: “By bringing this case to court we hope to draw attention to the importance of disposing of waste correctly and that waste producers must take their responsibilities seriously and stick to the rules.”

(JM/SP)