Two company directors from a rubber recycling company have been fined for illegally storing tyres without a waste management license. The men from Southern Rubber Products were fined a total of £4,000 this month, by Worthing Magistrates Court. The company had stored eight times the permitted number of tyres at its Brimfast Lane site in Sidlesham near Chichester. It was also found to have posed a risk to human health and a risk of polluting a nearby drainage ditch that feeds into a harbour.
In 2003, the Environment Agency discovered that the company did not have a licence, but they allowed them to continue to trade while they applied for one. However it was stipulated that they must not store more than 5,000 tyres and that a building risk assessment be carried out along with a fire action plan. In addition, the company was asked to install a water containment system to put out fire in the event of an accident that could pollute the surroundings. However, an Agency inspection in January 2006 found that over 40,000 tyres were being stored and none of the requested measures were in place. An enforcement notice was then issued, but subsequent Agency visits found this was not being satisfactorily complied with.
Lisa Ashmore of the Agency said, "We gave Southern Rubber every opportunity to avoid prosecution. Waste crimes are irresponsible and anti-social and the actions of the defendants put both the public and the environment at risk." However, Southern Rubber Products argued that they had "been let down" by a four month delay on delivery of a shredding machine which resulted in a build up of tyres.
