Permit breaches lead to fine

Hanson was fined £110,600 at Uxbridge magistrates’ court in February 2016 for environmental offences at Acton concrete plant in west London. The company admitted four breaches of its environmental permit relating to dust emission, spillages and storage of waste, and one breach of an enforcement notice . The offences took place between May 2014 and April 2015.

Senior sustainability manager Martin Crow said: “This was an unfortunate chapter of events from which lessons have been learned. We submitted an early guilty plea and the judge gave us credit for our full cooperation during the investigation and for the significant and ongoing remedial work we have carried out at the site. She also accepted that no actual environmental harm was caused.”

He said a number of areas for improvement had been identified for the wider business including plant design, site drainage and ensuring a greater understanding of permit conditions by all site staff.