Scrapyard owner receives suspended sentence over falsified documents

A scrapyard owner has received a suspended sentence and has been ordered to repay over £200,000 after operating an aluminium smelting facility in persistent breach of environmental rules.

The investigation found that the owner deliberately misled the Environment Agency for years by submitting doctored emissions reports that masked the smelter’s failure to meet required standards. He also used waste oils to fuel the furnace and failed to properly depollute vehicles or dispose of hazardous liquids. No hazardous waste was consigned from the site for several years, and the scrapyard owner later provided a false consignment note in an attempt to conceal this. A commissioning test report had originally shown that the smelter breached emission limits, but the version submitted to the regulator had been altered to show false “pass” results and had omitted recommendations for corrective action.

The court heard that the site should have produced significant quantities of waste oil and brake fluid between 2017 and 2022, none of which had been properly consigned. The Environment Agency stated that the owner’s actions would have resulted in harmful emissions from the furnace over many years and undermined legitimate operators.