Skip firm boss guilty of illegal collections

Out of date food collected illegally by a Blackpool skip hire firm was fed to pigs which later had to be destoyed.
Owen Baguley Skip HireOwen Baguley Skip Hire
Owen Baguley Skip Hire

Raymond Owen Baguley, boss of Baguley Skip Hire, was accused of playing ‘cat and mouse’ with Environment Agency officials and being ‘evasive’ during their investigation into his Blackpool operation into the collections.

He was found guilty of illegal waste activity following a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency at Preston Crown Court.

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Baguley is the owner of Owen Baguley Skip Hire, Roseway, Blackpool and is also involved in the operation of SB Waste Management, Moss Hey, Blackpool.

He was being paid to collect out of date food waste from a Blackpool food distribution company.

Baguley had assured the company that he was registered to treat the waste.

When they carried out an inspection Environment Agency officers found there were a total of 42 skips on the defendant’s site at Roseway which contained building materials, household waste, sandwiches, fruit juice, meat and dairy products all of which had expired between one to two months.

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Some of the waste food was being fed to pigs on the site that later had to be destroyed when it became apparent that Baguley wasn’t complying with other regulations on animal by products.

Baguley advised the court that since the investigation he’d registered under those regulations and had now changed his working methods to comply with the rules of feeding food waste to farm animals.

The Environment Agency prosecuted Baguley for accepting food waste not covered by the animal by products regulation, including a large amount of waste fruit juices.

He was also prosecuted for an earlier incident where he’d disposed of a significant quantity of waste wood by burning it.

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That incident had resulted in the attendance of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and over 1,000 litres of water had to be used to extinguish the fire.

Chris Jameson, environment officer at the Environment Agency, said: “This case shows that the Environment Agency will not hesitate to take tough action against criminals who have no regard for people and the environment.

“ It should serve as a deterrent to other people who may be thinking about committing such crimes.

“Waste crime causes environmental damage and undermines legitimate business.”

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The court found Baguley’s conduct had resulted in the Environment Agency having to spend time investigating matters.

The judge went on to comment that it was apparent that Baguley had played ‘cat and mouse’ with the Environment Agency and had been evasive during the investigation.

Baguely must do 220 hours of community service and was ordered to pay £5,000 towards the Environment Agency’s costs.