A skip hire company, blasted for failing to collect its containers, is being pursued by a government agency for breaching environmental regulations.
The Environment Agency ordered the Hunter Group, of Lockwood, to clear up after waste from the site breached a boundary fence and spilled onto the bank of the River Holme.
The agency is now considering further action after the company – also known as Sam H Services Ltd – failed to act.
An Environment Agency (EA) spokesperson said: “The EA is investigating the operation of Sam H Services Ltd following reports that waste was escaping from the boundary of the operator’s waste transfer site at Queens Mill Road, Lockwood, Huddersfield.
“Our investigations revealed that waste stored against the site’s boundary fence had damaged the fence, allowing waste to fall onto the bank of the River Holme.
“In July, we served a legal notice against the company requiring it to remove the waste from the boundary and repair the fence. The deadline for this notice expired on August 5, but this work has not been completed.
“Our officers are now considering taking further enforcement action to ensure that the operator brings the site into environmental compliance.
“Waste sites like this one can pose a risk of harm to the environment if they are not managed properly – that’s why it is vital that companies comply with the operating conditions set out in their permits.”
Hunter Group, which also traded as Huddersfield Skip Hire, has also come under fire for parking lorries on the pavement outside its premises.
The vehicles are alleged to have damaged the pavement.
Newsome ward councillor Andrew Cooper has told the company to ‘get a grip’.
Clr Cooper said: “Hunters need to get a grip of their operations and working practices to demonstrate that they have a sense of social responsibility to the wider community.”
A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “The council is currently carrying out regular parking enforcement patrols in response to concerns over parking in the area.
“If someone is identified as being responsible for damaging the pavement then we will pass on the cost of (the) repair to them.”
The Examiner has received numerous complaints from Hunter Group customers after the company failed to collect its skips from their premises.
Some were left with full skips for several months despite repeated promises by the company to collect them.
Dissatisfied customers include landlord Mohammed Rasool who says he has been waiting over six months for Hunter Group to collect a skip from outside a property on Thornton Lodge Road – and three months for the company to pick up a container outside his Crosland Moor home.
Mr Rasool said: “They’re always fobbing people off and we’re struggling because there’s a lot of rats running about.”
Hunter Group declined to comment when contacted by the Examiner.
