A SKIP hire firm has been fined £80,000 for waste disposal offences.

Magistrates heard that an Environment Agency inspector was shocked at the amount and type of waste stored by R Calder Skip Hire Ltd, of Kidderminster.

The family-run business from Hurcott Road admitted 10 charges under the Environmental Protection Act relating to treating, keeping and disposing of waste without a waste management licence.

Lucy Hawkins, prosecuting for the EA, told the town's court that the company operated a waste transfer station at Hoo Farm Industrial Estate, Kidderminster.

It dealt with waste including soil, rubble and scrap cars with special waste such as asbestos and vehicle batteries also kept on the site.

The company did not possess a licence to treat, keep or dispose of waste and permit its activities such as burning of waste materials and the cutting of metals, which led to a number of complaints from businesses in the area.

The company obtained planning consent for a waste transfer station but failed to follow the correct procedure for a waste management licence. In August 1999, the company was ordered to shift the waste but failed to do so.

In mitigation, the defence said the company had given an early guilty plea to save a possible long trial.

Justices ordered the firm to pay costs of £3,166.

"It sends a clear message to other companies and individuals involved in illegal waste activities that such behaviour will not be tolerated," said environmental protection officer Paul Hayward after Thursday's case.