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A Hull man was today given 26 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months at Hull & Holderness Magistrates’ Court for illegally storing and breaking scrap cars.

Sagahd Khan, aged 42, of Welwyn Park Road, Hull, was also given 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs of £3,530 to the Environment Agency, which brought the case.

When Mr Khan entered his guilty plea at an earlier hearing, Holly Webb, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court how he had continued to run his scrap vehicle business without a permit, despite multiple warnings from environment officers.

He operated his business, called Envirocar, at Chamberlain Road business park.

Mr Khan was first told in October 2009 that businesses dismantling end-of-life vehicles need an environmental permit from the Environment Agency, and a waste carriers licence if they are transporting waste.

Scrap, or end-of-life vehicles, are classed as hazardous waste until all the oils, batteries and other wastes are removed, which can cause pollution if disposed of incorrectly.

When officers returned in January 2010, officers found that no permit application had been made. Mr Khan explained that his business was moving, so officers agreed that they would wait for the permit application for the new premises.

In March 2010, Environment Agency officers became aware that Envirocar was still operating from the same business park. They visited again and found 18 vehicles, at least two of which contained engine oil, coolant and hydraulic fluids. Oil was also seen pooling on the ground. Mr Khan was told to stop operating because he needed a permit.

Mr Khan was interviewed in May 2010, and said he hadn’t applied for a permit because he had plans to move and the permit would be non-transferable. He accepted that he had been operating without a permit for seven months, but now had a waste carrier’s licence.

After he was told to stop operating, he admitted he had continued as he still needed to pay the rent. He said he hoped to have a permit in place on 1 July 2010.

In November 2010 officers went to Envirocar’s new unit at the business park, and counted 128 scrap cars, 34 of which were stored on ground that wasn’t sealed.

Inside the unit, car batteries were stacked, and engines were on the floor in pools of oil. Mr Khan said he would clear the site in three weeks in order to obtain planning permission and a permit.

Mr Khan was served with a notice to clear the site by 19 August 2011, but when they went back to inspect the site, he had failed to comply because activity was ongoing and the unit still stored a large number of scrap cars.

Repeated warnings

At sentencing, the District Judge said that the rules were there for a reason for the safety of the environment. He said Mr Khan may have been reckless, but his offending was intentional after he ignored warnings. He also acknowledged that the offending had been over a period of time and this was a large operation. The fact that Mr Khan ignored warnings showed contempt of environmental protection.

Speaking after the case Craig Wood, regulatory officer at the Environment Agency said: “This sentence sends a strong message to people that they must get the proper permissions in place before they start transporting and dismantling scrap vehicles. These are classed as hazardous waste, and must be managed properly to ensure that the environment is protected. 

“Rogue operators like Mr Khan also undermine legitimate companies who invest heavily to implement the modern standards required when handling this type of waste.  All those disposing of vehicles must make sure that they are taken away by properly-authorised operators."

Any person who scraps a car has a ‘duty of care’ to ensure their waste is only given to a permitted site or is taken away by a licensed waste carrier. The maximum fine for breach of ‘duty of care’ is £5,000.

Details of authorised treatment facilities and licensed waste carriers for end-of-life vehicles can be found at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.

If convicted at magistrates court, the maximum penalty for illegally dismantling end-of-life vehicles is a fine of up to £50,000 and imprisonment for up to six months.

 

(Source:  Environment Agency)