Man jailed for 2 years after waste disposal site fire 15 March 2012
A businessman who ran a waste disposal site in Yorkshire that burned for over a month in 2010 has been jailed for two years.
Roy Hinchcliffe was warned by officers that he was exceeding the 700 tonnes of waste that he was allowed to store, but days after a suspension notice was served a fire broke out at the site which then burned from February 7 through to March 8 2010.
Prosecutors said that the fire and ensuing clear-up operation had cost taxpayers around £1.2m, with the cost of the fire services operation alone costing more than £800,000.
Three firefighters and an aerial appliance were typically in use at the fire every day. Deputy CFO Steve Buckley, of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said at the time: “Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of lifesaving equipment may be tied up for weeks but we will be there supporting the local community for as long as it takes.”
Hinchcliffe was jailed for two years after admitting exceeding the storage limit at the Scout Hill site in Dewsbury. He also admitted storing additional waste at two other sites without a permit, and to failure to comply with a notice to reduce waste.
Roy Hinchcliffe’s son Neil was also jailed for 16 months in connection with the waste that was stored at the additional sites.
Judge James Spencer QC said at sentencing, “The waste that you allowed to be stored was unsightly, it was dangerous, it was unfenced and capable of escaping with no element at all of control.
“Fire of course is what happened at Scout Hill, a fire that was burning for over a month, which cost thousands to control and deal with, made worse because of the scale of overtipping within that site.”
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