Hazard waste boss fined

AN OLDHAM businessman has been fined £10,000 and given a suspended jail term for illegally trading in hazardous waste.

Poojan Patel (34) of Wicklow Grove, Oldham was handed a 12-month community order and 150 hours of unpaid work for brokering deals between his firm, Vish Impex, and the other complicit firms.

Bradford Crown Court also sentenced defendants from Halifax, Leeds, Merseyside and Rochdale following a Environment Agency investigation going back to 2009.

The problem was discovered when the agency investigated complaints of dead fish in a pond near Halifax. Two companies and three individuals still face prosecution.