SEPA prosecution - illegal waste tyre site
27 March 2018
Article: 52/1205
An East Lothian sole trader was fined £40,000 and given a Community Payback Order to undertake 240 hours of unpaid work, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on 14 March 2018, for illegally storing waste tyres.
Alistair Marshall trading as A. M. Transport pled guilty to depositing and keeping waste tyres on his site at Fenton Barns, Drem, and another site at Annfield Farm, Tranent, without the required Waste Management Licence. The case was investigated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and a report was sent to the Procurator Fiscal. Mr Marshall pled guilty at the Intermediate Diet on 12 September 2017 and the Sheriff deferred sentence for a period of time.
Mr Alistair Marshall first came to the attention of SEPA officers in April 2013 when they initially attended his site at Annfield Farm, Tranent. At that time, he was allowed to have 1000 tyres but had greatly exceeded that amount. Later that year, Mr Marshall made enquiries about licensing requirements for storing waste tyres and was advised by SEPA that he would require a Waste Management Licence.
In September 2015, SEPA became aware of Mr Marshall storing tyres at another site in Fenton Barns, East Lothian. Upon investigation, SEPA established Mr Marshall had been depositing and storing tyres there since 2010. There were estimated to be between 65,000 and 75,000 tyres stored at the site.
SEPA attempted to work with Mr Marshall but despite verbal and written requests for the site to be cleared, Mr Marshall did not comply. An enforcement notice was served, to force him to remove the tyres and he was allowed time to do so. Mr Marshall did not comply and the only option SEPA had was to report the case to the Procurator Fiscal. When the report was submitted the vast majority of the waste tyres remained at the site.