A Harrow building firm has been fined more than £1,000 for dumping waste illegally in an unused parking lot in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire .

Invent Carpentry & Building Contractors Ltd, of St Johns Road, in Harrow, was caught under duty of care rules after their waste was found among large-scale tipping on the site of a former car showroom.

An investigator on May 6, 2017, found evidence that waste had come from building work carried out on a house extension at Hillingdon .

When interviewed, a company director admitted a third party waste carrier, identified only as 'John', had been employed to remove rubbish from the Hillingdon site.

While the company director said they did not know the waste would be dumped illegally, insufficient checks had been made of the waste carrier’s credentials and no paperwork had been kept.

The firm pleaded guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court to offences relating to waste dumped illegally on March 21, 2018.

Magistrates fined the company £1,280 and ordered £1,100 be paid for clean-up compensation and £1,105 prosecution costs as well a victim surcharge of £128 - making a total to pay of £3,613.

The large-scale tip which contained the waste

South Bucks District Council Cabinet Member for Environment Luisa Sullivan said: “Building work produces waste.

"The law imposes a duty of care on builders to check properly who takes their waste away to help prevent it subsequently being fly-tipped by criminal operators.

“It also allows clean-up compensation to be ordered when fly tipping is found to be the result of failure in this duty of care.

“In this case no checks were made on ‘John’, who took away the waste for cash and then dumped it in an unused parking lot, with the result that the builder has had to pay a bill far beyond the charges of a reputable waste contractor.

“Part of the payment goes to the landowner to help pay for clearing up the mess.”

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