THE director of a Padiham-based company illegally dumped excavation waste and then deliberately misled the subsequent investigation, a court heard.

Joseph Bowes, a director of Riverstone Recycling and Reclamation Ltd, was fined £500 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs to the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution. Riverstone Recycling was also fined £200.

David Bradley, prosecuting, told Reedley Magistrates Court how Riverstone Recycling and Reclamation Ltd, in Park Road, had agreed with Bardsley Construction Ltd to remove excavation waste from works being carried out at St Thomas School, in Barrowford.

Using eight-wheeled tipper trucks, Riverstone removed 103 truckloads of waste from school site in November and December 2001. Instead of taking it to a suitable licensed site, Riverstone tipped the waste on land at Ridgaling Farm, in Pasture lane, Barrowford.

The waste deposited at the farm consisted mainly of soil, clay and stone but also included other materials such as timber, metal, textiles and plastic.

By dumping the waste at the farm, rather than at a properly licensed waste management facility, Riverstone would have saved money.

The company would have been paid £90 for each load it removed and would have had to pay around £50 per to deposit it at the nearest licensed site.

The court also heard that Riverstone had failed to provide paperwork to the owner of Ridgaling Farm for any of the 103 truckloads of waste that were deposited there. As part of its investigation the Environment Agency served Riverstone with a legally enforceable notice requiring it to provide details of all waste carried during the six months leading up to and including the incident at the farm in the form of Waste Transfer Notes.

Despite assurances given by Bowes the company never provided the requested paperwork.

At a later date the Agency seized more than 1,000 Waste Transfer Notes from the company's offices.

Riverstone were unable to comment on the case.