THE boss of a Kingswinford waste and recycling firm has been hit with a court bill for nearly £5,000 and banned from being a company director after pleading guilty to waste offences.

Jaskaran Bhandal, director of Oakham Environmental Waste & Recycling Ltd at Oak Farm, admitted to one count of failing to remove waste from the site and one count of operating a waste site without an authorised environmental permit at a hearing at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday (Thursday February 16).

The 48-year-old director of the firm was fined £1,332, ordered to pay £3,265 in costs, plus £120 victim surcharge, and disqualified from being a company director for five years.

Officers from the Environment Agency had been working with Oakham Environmental Waste & Recycling Ltd to bring the site into compliance under its environmental permit until it was revoked.

The firm, however, was ordered to remove all the waste from the site by July 2 2014 after the decision to revoke the permit was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate at an appeal.

When officers visited the site in November 2015, however, they found significant amounts of new waste at the site – which was later determined to have been deposited by the firm after the permit was revoked.

A notice was then served on the firm in May 2016 to remove all the illegally deposited waste by November 19 2016.

But when officers visited on November 22 – they noted that although attempts had been made to remove the waste the vast majority remained.

When interviewed - Bhandal, of Old College Drive, Wednesbury, admitted to knowing the site did not hold the relevant permits to carry out the work undertaken, he also accepted he was unable to comply with the notice served but said this was due to financial reasons.

In mitigation, the court was told Bhandal had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity, had co-operated with the Environment Agency during the interview and that he was sorry for the offences committed.

Steve Rogers, the Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation, said after the case: “Despite extensive previous efforts to work with the company and seek compliance, it became apparent prosecution remained the only option to deal with this matter appropriately.”

He said the prosecution should “send out a clear message that the Environment Agency is adopting a robust approach to ensuring those who flout the law are brought to justice”.