Tyre firm fined £10,000 and Halifax man in court over 'fire-risk' waste site in Calderdale

Tyre Waste Team Limited has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,500 over two waste operations including one involving the storage and treatment of tyres at Fairlea Mills at Luddenden Foot.

Shakil Ahmed, aged 42, of Spinners Close, Halifax, and two others, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday (July 12) over an investigation led by the Environment Agency.

Ahmed – the owner of the Calderdale site - was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £2,500 in costs, after pleading guilty to operating in breach of an environmental permit and failing to comply with notices.

Both the Luddenden Foot site and another in Shipley were selected for inspection following a major fire in November 2020 at another waste site in Bradford that stored tyres.

Due to the environmental impact of that fire, the Environment Agency - working with Calderdale Council, Bradford Council, Kirklees Council, Wakefield Council and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue - pledged to look at all sites with exemptions to ensure they were operating legally.

The Environment Agency said the volume of tyres stored at the Luddenden Foot site exceeded the quantity permitted and caused a significant fire risk.

In mitigation, Ahmed indicated that he misunderstood the terms of the permit. A bespoke permit was being applied for and the site was now clear and in compliance.

Following the sentencing, Environment Agency Environment Manager Ben Hocking said: “We’ll continue to work with our partners to crack down on illegal sites like this.

"We encourage people to report any illegal waste activity to our 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060.”

Councillor Jenny Lynn, Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for Public Services and Communities, added: "Protecting our environment and keeping our communities safe are council priorities, and we won’t hesitate to take action against anyone who causes pollution, environmental blight and risk to the public.

“Thank you to the local community for their ‘eyes and ears’ in supporting our enforcement action, to the council teams for their persistent visits to the site and determination to move the legal cases forward, and to all our partner organisations for helping to bring the wrongdoers to justice.”