North Wales man ordered to pay over £31,000 for waste offences

A man from Cerrigydrudion, near Corwen has been ordered to pay £31,690 after pleading guilty to three waste charges at Caernarfon Magistrates Court on 18 May.

Graham Percival had been operating North Wales 4x4 Breakers’, a vehicle breaker business, out of Rhydymain near Dolgellau since 2018. The investigation into his business practices started in response to reports of alleged waste offences from the community and proactive work by NRW enforcement officers.

Mr Percival had collected waste materials from paying customers without protecting the environment and he did not have the correct permit to do so legally.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of operating a regulated facility without an environmental permit and one charge of failing to comply with a notice.

Mr Percival was handed a 12-month community order with 250 hours of unpaid work for operating regulated facilities without an environmental permit.

The Judge also ordered him to pay a £20,000 fine for failing to provide information after being served with a notice of offence and a £190 victim surcharge. He was also ordered to pay £11,500 to NRW for the cost of the investigation and prosecution.

Euros Jones, NRW Operations Manager for Northwest Wales said:

"Waste crime is a serious problem costing businesses, landowners and taxpayers millions of pounds every year and causing significant harm to the environment, human health and wildlife.

“It is a criminal offence to collect, carry, store or break vehicles without an environmental permit. Removing batteries, wheels or catalytic converters still count as breaking.
"If we find evidence that a vehicle breaking business is operating without the proper permit which protects the environment, we will not hesitate to investigate and take the appropriate enforcement action.

"In this case, we prosecuted the perpetrator, and he was dealt a hefty financial cost by the court."

Anybody who suspects illegal waste activity in their area should report it via NRW’s incident hotline on 0300 065 3000.