Business counts cost after 15,000 tyre dump

"When I first saw it", he said. "I almost threw up. I just couldn't believe it."

The Paintball Centre has become a well-known team-building retreat for Wharfers over the last few years. But with plans for the major development of Wood Wharf on the horizon, its operators were keen to look at possibilities for an extra site.

They eventually settled on a location on the Herringham Road industrial estate, and were looking forward to opening a post-apocalyptic-themed paintball experience by the end of the year.

Mr Jones then discovered 150 tyres dumped on his Wood Wharf site in mid-August.

He caught the person involved on the second load, and was told he needed somewhere to temporarily store the tyres while another site was being cleared. He pledged to remove the tyres after three days, but then asked for more time.

Mr Jones said: "I couldn't keep the tyres on that site, so I told him I would allow him to store that amount in my Charlton warehouse for a week. I gave him the key, and when I took it off him a couple of days later the amount of tyres in there were exactly what we agreed."

Mr Jones claims that a copy of the key must have been cut, as he returned two weeks later to find 15,000 tyres on-site. He is still on course to open in December, but is now several thousand out of pocket.

He said: "The police have basically said that because I originally let the people on my premises, the onus is on me completely. It goes from criminal law to civil law.

"I've had to have the tyres moved myself, and it's cost me £11,000. We've taken an ambitious decision to expand in a recession and stretched our resources to the limit. Having this as well is bordering on breaking me."

Used tyres are classified as a form of environmental waste, and recent EU regulations also prohibit their disposal in landfill. David wants the Environment Agency to strengthen its auditing process to target businesses who hire unlicensed agents to get rid of tyres.

He said: "It needs a much clearer audit trail so that it's not worth the effort to do this. The person who gave them the tyres is breaking the law. They should have ensured they were properly licensed. The system allows that to happen and it shouldn't."

Peter Craven, owner of 35-year-old Essex-based tyre casing specialists Grove Road Tyres, helped Mr Jones remove some of the tyres from his site. He claims that similar incidents are common in London and nationwide.

He said: "What happens is that a legitimate company will charge 65 to 80p per tyre to dispose of them properly, and you've got these chaps going around in vans saying they'll do it for 40p.

"They're not licensed, they dump the tyres somewhere and leave people like Mr Jones or the council to foot the bill.

"We did a job in Essex where a guy had 120,000 tyres dumped in his yard. In Stratford three years ago, there was an incident with something like 80,000.

"Every borough is having similar problems. Maybe it was worse ten to 15 years ago, but now there are people making a business out of it. They get an old van and a carrier licence and drive around, and if they can get 400 tyres a day, that's £200 in one day. The fines are just a slap on the wrist.

"We're independently audited and we're registered with the Tyre Recovery Association, and we provide a collection note and duty of care certificate when we pick up the tyres.

"The Environment Agency say they don't have the manpower. But the way to resolve this is to go to every single tyre shop in the area's Yellow Pages and ask them who clears their scrap. You then phone up these companies and check and find out if they're lying."

John Seddon, an Environment Agency technical specialist in London, said: "I think it's fair to say it's an ongoing problem, but the boroughs themselves have done a first-class job.

"The difficulty for us is that when the retail outlet gets rid of the tyres and can provide waste disposal certificates, it's not seen as an offence. The tyres disappear into the ether, and the first we hear of it is when some poor Londoner gets lumbered with 15,000 tyres.

"If someone gets rid of tyres at a price like 40p each they must have some inkling that it's not straightforward. But you have to prove that they knowingly participated, and it's very difficult to prove that someone had knowledge of an act."

The Environment Agency is pushing to secure its first ASBO against a repeat dumper of tyres, with the assistance of authorities such as Tower Hamlets Council.

The agency also has its own financial investigators to tackle law-breakers, and often brings its own prosecutions before the courts.

Mr Seddon said: "It seems the courts are beginning to get an angle on this and there are now firmer sentencing guidelines. The penalties are going up. You can be fined up to £50,000 in the lower courts and in the upper courts it's unlimited with the potential for five years in prison.

"I think the regulations are fairly robust. What you have to take into account is that if someone is intent on breaking the law they'll do that come what may. If it's a question of risk against profit, some people will always think it's worth taking the risk."