Key Facts
- •Gordon Anderson, a 67-year-old director of Paperback Collection and Recycling Limited (PCR), pleaded guilty to three environmental offences.
- •The offences involved breaches of environmental permits at two sites: Deeside and Penrhos.
- •The breaches included exceeding waste storage limits, failing to comply with fire safety regulations, and operating a facility without a permit.
- •PCR, now in liquidation, was also charged and pleaded guilty to several offences.
- •Anderson received a suspended 15-month prison sentence, 250 hours of unpaid work, and a 15-year director disqualification.
- •The total clean-up costs for the breaches exceeded £2.6 million.
Legal Principles
Sentencing guidelines for environmental offences.
Guideline for Environmental Offences
Corporate veil piercing.
Petrodel Resources Ltd v Prest [2013] UKSC 34
Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, section 2.
Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986
Environmental Protection Act 1990, sections 33(1)(a), 33(6), 34(1)(a), 34(6), 33B.
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, Regulations 38(1)(a), 38(2), 12(1)(a), 41.
Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016
Newton Hearing principles.
R v Newton (1983) 77 Cr App R 13
Disqualification periods under Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
Re Sevenoaks Stationers (Retail) Ltd [1990] 3 WLR 1165
Outcomes
Appeal against sentence largely dismissed.
The judge's approach to sentencing was deemed correct, except for the length of the director disqualification.
15-year director disqualification reduced to 6 years.
The court considered the disqualification period to be excessive given Anderson's age, good character, guilty plea and the absence of pollution.