A Medway firm has been fined for illegally dumping rubbish.

Abbey Waste Management Ltd of Strood, Rochester, Kent pleaded guilty at Sittingbourne Magistrates’ Court of depositing waste without a licence in a case brought by the Environment Agency.

The company and its director Stephen Buckland were fined a total of £16,000 and £13,000 costs for using an illegal waste site in Iwade, a rural location in East Kent.

The site, Plantation Lodge, had been under surveillance by Environment Agency officers.

The court heard there had been a number of reported incidents involving the deposit of waste where lorries were seen entering with full loads and dropping waste at the site. In depositing waste illegally the company avoided considerable disposal costs.

A spokesman from the Environment Agency Environmental Crime team said: “Abbey Waste Management holds a waste management licence and as such were well aware of the requirements to dispose waste materials appropriately.

"We are committed to cleaning up the environment in Kent.

"Waste crime is a growing menace that affects us all and we will not tolerate anti-social crimes like this.”