Rita Penman - 6-Sep-2007
- Bryan Dobson was yesterday (Wed) found
guilty at Ely Magistrates’ Court of polluting
a fenland watercourse with highly polluting
sewage matter after denying being the driver
of a vehicle which dumped the waste.
Ely Magistrates’ Court was told that the
offence had been witnessed by two members
of the public who saw a JK Environmental
road tanker discharging a dark coloured
liquid from the back into a small watercourse.
Dobson of Lawns Crescent, Little Downham,
Ely said he had not been driving the vehicle
but the court found him guilty and he was
fined £250 and ordered to pay £1000
Environment Agency costs. He claimed that
although his name was down as being the
driver of that particular vehicle on that
day, the company records were wrong.
Dobson’s claim was dismissed by the court
following the presentation of a number of
corroborating documents by the Environment
Agency which placed him in the vehicle on
that day, including his own drivers logbook
which, in court, he had admitted completing
for that day.
At a hearing in May 2007, J K Environmental
& Sons had pleaded guilty to the same
offence, namely causing the pollution of
a tributary of the Grunty Fen Catchwater
Drain. JK Environmental was fined £2,500
and ordered to pay £3,083 in costs.
This week magistrates were told that on
Thursday 17 November 2005 two members of
the pubic saw a tanker parked on a road
siding on Station Road, Wilburton, Cambridgeshire.
They both reported to the Environment Agency
that they had seen the tanker discharging
a dark coloured liquid at a high flow rate
from the vehicle, and although they didn't
have the registration number, they had seen
the words 'JK Environmental' on the side
of the tanker.
Within 20 minutes of receiving the report,
Environment Agency officers arrived at the
site but found that the lorry had left.
The officers found evidence that the ground
had been disturbed where the force of the
flow had eroded the surface and sewage-related
debris was found on the ground.
Samples were taken from the affected watercourse
and it was found that the polluting matter,
a dark coloured turbid matter, had the pollution
strength of between three and four times
that of raw, untreated sewage and that the
liquid had potentially toxic levels of ammonia
in each sample over the 100m stretch that
was sampled.
Two weeks later various documents, including
worksheets and personnel logsheets, were
seized from JK Environmental's office in
Royston. On a later visit, GPS tracking
data for company vehicles was also seized
from the company’s premises.
The GPS tracking system fitted to the vehicle,
allocated to Dobson on that day was fundamental
in tracing the driver and vehicle in this
case. It showed which vehicle was used,
the route taken and a stop it made at the
same location, on the same date and time
as the reports were received from members
of the public.
Immediately prior to the incident occurring,
the GPS tracking device, showed the vehicle
had stopped at a number of nearby mobile
home sites known to have septic tanks.
Phil Henderson, Senior Environment Officer
with the Environment Agency said: ‘It appears
that Dobson deliberately discharged sewage
matter from the vehicle causing serious
pollution of a fenland watercourse.
‘This reckless action was carried out deliberately
and with complete disregard for the environment
of the local area. We are pleased that the
court has found the driver guilty and imposed
a fine to reflect the seriousness of this
offence.
‘The use of modern technology in this case
highlights the means we are now able to
use to trace and identify offenders who
seek to ignore regulations put in place
to protect the environment. We would also
like to thank the members of the local community
whose prompt reporting ultimately led to
this conviction’.
