Thousands of tyres dumped illegally on land in Pershore could have put residents at risk from a poison cloud, a court heard.

A safety expert concluded that stacked tyres were in danger of self-igniting under the pressure, sending up hydrogen cyanide gas, said Barry Berlin, prosecuting for the Environment Agency.

Businessman Robert White paid £5,000 to Graham Hall to dump up to 60,000 tyres on The Poplars farm in Little Hampton, in 1999.

Farmer, Mrs Prudence Dowson, "had no idea" she was going to receive 40 van loads and believed they would be moved in a fortnight.

But she eventually had to pay £22,000 for the bulk to be taken away and there were still 18,000 tyres left, which would cost another £20,000 to remove, Mr Berlin told Worcester Crown Court.

White, a 46-year-old former bank manager, of Spring Cottage, Keswell Green, Worcester, admitted causing the deposit of controlled waste on an unlicensed site and failing to comply with the duty of a disposer under the Environment Protection Acts.

Recorder Robert Juckes QC said: "This was pollution on a grand scale. There was evidence of a serious potential risk of environmental poisoning long-term, through irresponsible dumping."

He said the offences, which carry a maximum two-year jail term, merited custody. But White was a man of previous good character and had pleaded guilty.

White was ordered to carry out 200 hours community work, pay Mrs Dowson £5,000 compensation and court costs of £4,018.

Hall had admitted the same offences before a magistrates' court and had been fined £2,000, said Mr Berlin.

White, now employed as an accounts manager, was a director of Strongpoint, a company specialising in tyre recycling, based in Dudley.

But the business was failing when he asked Hall to dispose of tyres being stored on land at Grove House, Ryall, near Upton-upon-Severn, telling him that part of the load could still be recycled.

Mr Berlin said White knew the tyres were not being moved to a licensed site and arranged for one of his employees to drive the van to the 300-acre farm. The delivery took two weeks to complete.

Mrs Dowson was promised a £1,000 deposit and £1,000 a month storage but the tyres were never moved, despite constant phone calls she made to Hall.

Mr Berlin said, besides the poison cloud risk, rain could have washed pollutants from the tyres into the soil. No offer had been made to move the remaining load and the farmer could not afford more expense.

Richard Kimblin, for White, said he had decided to quit the recycling business before paying Hall but had not taken sufficient care over where the tyres were going to be stored.

There had been no leaching from the dump and no evidence of harm to residents, he added.

Recorder Juckes said White had been left with a large quantity of tyres at a time when his business was failing. "He needed to get rid of them and must have known where they were going".