A Berkshire man and his company have been prosecuted this month for running an illegal waste dump that was so large it required a global positioning satellite to calculate its size. Cecil Wiggins and his firm Wiggins Transport Ltd were fined a total of £82,000 for ignoring the conditions of their waste management licence at a site at Poyle, near Slough. The company had ignored Environment Agency warnings and made huge profits from the massive illegal dump.
The company were only permitted to store up to 35,000 cubic metres of stone, concrete and brick waste at the site before their licence was revoked in August 2004. Agency officers however said that 110,000 cubic metres were being stored, and a further 175,000 cubic metres of waste were being kept on land outside the licensed area, land which had no protection against environmental damage. The waste was being piled up to 14 metres high - over three times the allowed height - and the total volume of waste was enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall three times over. On several occasions Wiggins Transport Ltd were also found to be illegally burning waste.
Investigating officer James Adams said "Wiggins Transport and Mr Wiggins deliberately chose to break the law, risking damage to the environment and undermining other legitimate waste businesses in the area. By ignoring the conditions of their waste management licence and keeping waste without a licence, they both stood to make significant financial gains."
