A major West Yorkshire company will have to pay out more than £16,000 after a court heard how drums containing dangerous chemicals were found on farmland near Queensbury.

Investigators from the Environment Agency discovered that many of the drums at Clayton Edge Farm held small amounts of solvents, acid or inks, Bradford magistrates were told.

Greetings card makers Unique Images Ltd, of Dawson Lane, Dudley Hill, Bradford, admitted four breaches of waste disposal regulations. The firm was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £10,279 costs.

One of its employees, David Cawkwell, of Commercial Street, Queensbury, pleaded guilty to three breaches of waste disposal regulations. He was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £300 costs.

Alan Petherbridge, prosecuting, said in March last year officers from the Environment Agency recorded 156 205-litre metal and plastic drums, many of them bearing hazard warning labels, on the land. Many were fitted with bungs and were sealed, but others were not.

Experts removed 68 drums, which were found to contain liquid waste that was listed as hazardous, flammable or acid.

"No-one really knows how many drums went off site - no records were kept,'' said Mr Petherbridge. "The potential threat of anyone coming into contact with the drums is obvious."

David Williams, for the firm, said there had never been any intention to flout the regulations or save money by disposing of the drums improperly.

Mark Seekins, managing director of Unique Images, said the company accepted full responsibility for any errors but added that a similar incident could not happen again because the firm now used water-based inks.

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