Probe into illegal dumping claims at Wallasey waste management site

Nov 5 2008 by Lorna Hughes, Wallasey News

AN investigation is continuing this week into fraud allegations surrounding the dumping of waste at Bidston Waste Management Facility in Wallasey Bridge Road.

The inquiry is understood to be focusing on fears hundreds of tonnes of waste could have been dumped at the site without anyone being properly invoiced.

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) has suspended a member of staff at the centre and informed the police.

A complaint was made to the MWDA by a member of the public on October 15, who said he feared lorries have been allowed to dump waste over more than two years.

The complainant shot video footage which appears to show 32-tonne trucks weighing themselves on the weighbridge then entering the plant to dump their waste.

He said lorries were not stopping at the weighbridge when they leave to calculate how much waste was dumped.

If the site is not being properly monitored, he said, hazardous waste could have been funnelled into the plant without being properly treated.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “The only way you can generate an invoice is being weighed twice – fully-laden and fully unladen – and then the difference between the two is what has been left on the floor.

“I caught four lorries on camera in one go. I would say the evidence is pretty compelling.”

Wirral home owners are allowed to use Bidston to dispose of household waste when their wheelie bins are full.

But the complainant also alleges commercial vans are dumping waste at the civic amenities site without paying.

A joint statement issued by the waste disposal authority and Mersey Waste Holdings Group, which runs Bidston for the MWDA, confirmed the probe.

It said: “Following the receipt of a complaint regarding activities at the Bidston Integrated Waste Management Facility, Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and its contractor Mersey Waste Holdings are conducting a thorough and detailed investigation about the allegations.”