Property firm prosecuted after untraceable carrier fly tipped their waste in Penn Bottom
A property firm has been prosecuted after they used an untraceable waste carrier who fly tipped waste in Penn Bottom near High Wycombe.
On Wednesday 18th July 2018, LNF Property Services Ltd, of North End Road, Wembley and Company Director, Farhad Darabi, aged 52 of Highfield Avenue, Wembley pleaded guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court to offences relating to waste which was dumped illegally at Gravelly Way, Penn Bottom, High Wycombe.
The court heard that investigators from the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire had examined a large deposit of illegally dumped waste on farmland off Gravelly Way. They found details in the dumped waste which showed that the waste had come from building work carried out at London addresses by LNF Property Services Ltd.
As company director, Farhad Darabi was interviewed at a London Police Station. Mr Darabi on behalf of LNF Property Services Ltd admitted that he had transferred waste himself without making the required checks and procedures under his and the company’s duty of care. He denied any knowledge of, or involvement with, the illegal dumping.
The fact that Mr Darabi had failed to get proper identification when he hired the waste carrier and had no paperwork meant that it proved impossible to trace them, though the court heard that Mr Darabi had made notable efforts to assist the investigation. He had also expressed his repugnance at what had been done with the waste.
The Magistrates fined LNF Property Services Ltd £3,500 and fined Mr Darabi £1,357. Costs were ordered to a total of £678.50 each. Victim surcharges of £170 and £135 were ordered respectively against company and director – making a total to pay of £6,519.
Chiltern District Council Cabinet Member for Environment Mike Smith, speaking on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: ‘This case involved a significant quantity of waste fly-tipped in the Buckinghamshire countryside.
Legal action would have been taken against the carrier who dumped the waste, if the company and its director had followed correct procedure and obtained proper paperwork that would allow identification. But because they failed in their duty to do this, they became legally liable themselves and were prosecuted.
This is a stark warning to small businesses to avoid unlicensed waste carriers, or the cost – as in this case – could end up being very high.‘
The case was investigated and prosecuted by Buckinghamshire County Council on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire. Launched in November 2003, the Partnership’s ‘Illegal Dumping Costs’ campaign has resulted in over 660 convictions and a significant saving to the Buckinghamshire taxpayer principally through reducing removal and disposal costs.
Illegal dumping can be reported at www.buckscc.gov.uk/fly.