Skip boss missed warnings as he 'doesn't do emails'

A man who owns a skip hiring business said he missed Environment Agency (EA) warnings about overflowing waste at his premises because "he doesn't do emails".

Roy Brett, 66, pleaded guilty to four offences including keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health.

His company RJ Brett Contracts Ltd, based at Lanham Green Lane, near Braintree, Essex, was charged with four offences including running the site without a permit and failing to comply with a notice to clear the yard.

Brett, of Winstree Road, Stanway, Colchester, will be sentenced on 15 May at Colchester Magistrates' Court alongside his company RJ Brett Contracts Ltd.

The EA said RJ Brett Contracts Ltd pleaded guilty to breaches of environmental law between 2024 and 2026.

The EA first raised concerns about the site during the summer of 2024 and on a visit officers found more than a dozen skips full of waste giving off a strong odour.

The EA told Brett he had three months to remove the waste.

EA officers returned to the site in October 2024 as the situation had not improved and Brett was sent a letter that warned the site had to be cleaned up or he would face prosecution.

By January 2025 - the deadline for the waste to be gone - the yard was found to have almost 50 skips, with some stacked on top of others, and large piles of wood and soil.

The EA said Brett had ignored written orders and face-to-face warnings to clear the site of waste.

Brett said he "didn't do emails" so had "missed" the written instructions to remove the waste.

EA investigators found Brett stored too much wood, metal, textiles and builders' rubbish in relation to the size of his yard.

They said skips were overflowing with rubbish, including mattresses and soil.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service also told Brett to tidy up the site and make sure nothing that could start a fire was brought into the yard.

Lesley Robertson, an enforcement team leader for the Environment Agency in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, said: "Roy Brett is a director of three other skip-hire companies in Essex.

"It doesn't seem plausible that someone with his years of experience in the waste industry misunderstood that he didn't need an environmental permit or what low-risk activity was allowed for exemption from needing one.

"Brett and his company undercut rivals by avoiding permitting and subsistence fees.

"They also evaded permit conditions designed to protect the environment."

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