21,000 tyres removed from the site of major fire in Bradford

The blaze at Spring Mill Street off Manchester Road, broke out in November 2020, involving hundreds of thousands of tyres burning for days.

It took a week before firefighters were able to completely extinguish the fire.

The Environment Agency issued enforcement notices, first on the operator and then the landowner, requiring them to remove bales of tyres from the former go-kart site.

When no action was taken, they began prosecutions of both Mohammed Yaqoob, the registered landowner, as well as Stuart Bedford and Equalityre, the operators.

As 217 bales of tyres, amounting to roughly 21,700 tyres have now been removed, the Agency has withdrawn its summons relating to Mr Yaqoob.

Pictures still show a number of loose tyres on the site.

Fire fighters try to put out a tyre fire in Spring Mill Street off Manchester Road in November 2020

Ben Hocking, area environmental manager at the Environment Agency said: “Mr Yaqoob has now met the conditions of an Environment Agency enforcement notice after removing a substantial amount of tyres from the Spring Mill Street site.

“This has reduced the risk and potential impact of a further fire. As such, we’ve withdrawn our summons after deciding that the prosecution of Mr Yaqoob is no longer in the public interest.”

The prosecution of the operator, however, continues. A trial date was previously set by magistrates for September 1.

The firm and Mr Bedford, of Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, are both charged with failing to comply with a notice dating back to the month before the fire broke out by failing to remove controlled waste from the former go-karting track site.

The case went before Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court at the end of last year and not guilty pleas were entered to both charges.

Officers at the Environment Agency previously confirmed to the Telegraph & Argus that they launched an investigation into the suspected illegal storage of waste tyres at the old go-karting site near Manchester Road the summer before the fire broke out after receiving complaints.

They visited the site and issued a first enforcement notice a month before the devastating blaze of November 2020.

The thick smoke blows eastwards from the scene of the fire in Spring Mill Street, Bradford. Picture: Network Rail

After the fire the Environment Agency then issued a second enforcement notice, this time on the land owner, ordering the waste be removed from the site.

Three people arrested in connection with the fire were later released without charge.

At the time police said its investigation had progressed as far as it could.

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