Hendy man and Swansea company fined for waste offences

A HENDY man and Swansea company have been convicted in court for two waste offences.

Peter Karl Davies and Purnell Construction Ltd pleaded guilty at Carmarthen Magistrates Court for carrying waste without a waste carriers licence and for failing to complete waste transfer notes.

The court heard that on December 5 last year a tipper type vehicle was stopped by police in Cross Hands as part of a joint operation targeting illegal waste carriers and scrap metal thieves.

Council environmental enforcement officers spoke to the driver who identified himself as Peter Karl Davies, aged 34, of Heol Llwyn Bedw, Hendy.

He told them he worked for Purnell Construction Ltd and the scrap on the vehicle had been collected from a shop in Narberth that the company was working on. He said he was taking the scrap to a scrap yard in Llansamlett in Swansea and the building waste was to be returned to the yard at Llwyn y Bwch in Oldwalls, Gower.

When asked if the company was registered with the Environmental Agency to carry waste, Davies said he did not know. He said he didn’t know he needed waste transfer notes either and that his boss Chris Purnell had asked him to remove the waste items from the shop in Narberth.

Officers checked the EA website and found there was no licence for Purnell Construction Ltd. A letter was also sent to Chris Purnell asking him to attend the office for an interview.

Contact was made with Chris Purnell on the telephone on January 7 and he admitted that the company did not have a waste carriers licence on December 5 but that they had had a licence since December 11. He later stated that he did not know that they needed one.

However, with 66 years in the building industry it is reasonable to believe that the company would have known about Duty of Care regulations and the need to have a waste carriers licence and waste transfer notes.

Davies was fined £105 and ordered to pay £154 prosecution costs and a £20 victim surcharge. Purnell Construction Ltd was fined £400 plus £154 prosecution costs and a £40 victim surcharge.

Speaking after the case, Executive Board Member for Environmental and Public Protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “All businesses that carry waste, including scrap merchants, skip companies, builders and gardeners, must have a waste carriers licence. They must also make sure they have the correct paperwork for all the waste they carry and only use licensed waste sites to dispose of their rubbish.

“Hopefully this fine will help to get the message across that anyone caught illegally transporting waste will be prosecuted.

“It is important, not only to prevent fly-tipping, but also to prevent the increasing number of metal thefts throughout the country.”

The council works closely with the police, through the Community Safety Partnership, to tackle the unauthorised movement of scrap metal in Carmarthenshire.