A Hampshire waste company and one of its directors have been ordered to pay almost £20,000 in fines and costs for breaching environment laws.

The defendants faced two allegations each, first for failing to comply with the conditions of their environmental permit and secondly of failing to remove excessive waste.

Teale Waste Management Ltd were fined £7,000 for each of the two offences, ordered to pay a costs of £3,130 and a victim surcharge of £15.

Barry Medlicott senior, 52 of Selborne Way, Whitehill, Bordon was fined £750 for each offence, ordered to pay a contribution to prosecution costs in the sum of £1000 and a £15 victim surcharge.

He was also disqualified from being a company director for a period of two years. Teale Waste Management Ltd operates a waste transfer station in Rosewood, Hampshire.

Environment Agency officers found the waste levels at the Rosewood site consistently exceeded the fence height.

On one survey they found piles were reaching 5.5m above the general concrete ground - the equivalent to about 100 lorry loads of waste.

This, along with poorly maintained litter netting, risked windblown litter escaping the site boundaries.

The defendants’ poor management of the site and the lack of regular turnaround of the waste attracted rats onto the site along with consequent health risks, Andover Magistrates Court heard.

Other breaches included prohibited waste storage in skips outside of the site and burning of waste materials.

Gill May, Investigating Officer at the Environment Agency said: “The defendants repeatedly failed to co-operate with the Environment Agency to improve their management of the site.

“The sentence of the court sends out a clear message to operators to co-operate with the Environment Agency and also comply with their environmental permit conditions.”