FIA | Kent-based Miller Food and Wine Limited has been fined £62,000 after inspectors uncovered serious fire safety breaches, including blocked escape routes and a breach of a Prohibition Notice.

The case arose from a Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) inspection in March 2022, which uncovered significant fire safety issues. Officers identified missing fire precautions and breaches in the building’s compartmentation – problems that posed a serious risk to life should a fire break out.

The business pleaded guilty to ten offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, including failing to comply with restrictions set out in a Prohibition Notice.

The court ordered the company to pay a total of £62,000, broken down as follows:

• £18,000 for the initial failures.
• £24,000 for breaching the Prohibition Notice.
• £18,000 in costs.
• £2,000 victim surcharge.


The ten offences included:

• Failure to assess fire risks (Article 9(1)) – no suitable fire risk assessment, leaving people exposed to serious risk.
• Failure to manage fire precautions (Article 11(1)) – no arrangements for planning, organising, or reviewing fire safety measures.
• Lack of fire detection and alarms (Article 13(1)(a)) – no automatic fire detectors or alarms provided.
• Blocked escape routes (Article 14(1)(a)) – combustible materials obstructed the only staircase, hindering escape.
• Defective fire doors (Article 17(1)) – faulty fire doors risked smoke and flames spreading into escape routes.
• Compromised escape route (Article 8(1)(a)) – a breach in staircase compartmentation would allow fire and smoke to spread.
• Basement fire risks (Article 8(1)) – compartmentation breaches in a basement storing stock and electricals risked rapid fire spread.
• Inadequate emergency lighting (Article 14(2)(h)) – Emergency lighting only covered parts of the premises, leaving some escape routes unlit.
• Breach of Prohibition Notice (Article 31) – the first floor was used in contravention of a Prohibition Notice.
• Use of bedroom in prohibited area (Article 3) – a first-floor bedroom was being used for sleeping, against restrictions.


Daniel Noonan, head of building safety at KFRS, commented: “Public safety is our highest priority. This sentencing serves as a clear reminder to all businesses in the Kent and Medway region about the importance of complying with fire safety legislation.

“Fire safety is a shared responsibility. We’re committed to supporting businesses to ensure the safety of the public by offering advice and guidance. However, where lives are put at risk and there’s a failure in meeting fire safety obligations, we will pursue legal action when necessary.”

Environment Agency | Riley Foods Limited, a Burnley-based slaughterhouse, has been fined £17,000 and ordered to pay £34,365 in costs.

The sentencing followed a prosecution by the Environment Agency after the company was found guilty of illegally polluting a nearby watercourse with blood.

The case began following a report on 23 February 2021 of blood entering a stream next to the company’s premises at Dunnockshaw Farm.

Environment Agency officers attended the site the following day alongside representatives from United Utilities. Investigations confirmed that the pollution was not caused by United Utilities’ sewer infrastructure but instead originated from a private drainage system at Riley Foods Limited.

Evidence gathered showed effluent, including blood, entering the watercourse from a pipe connected to the company’s premises. Water quality testing demonstrated that upstream of the discharge the water was of the highest quality, while downstream it was classified as “bad,” the lowest possible category, posing a serious risk to aquatic life.

The court heard that Riley Foods Limited had a history of poor practice and non-compliance. The Environment Agency had previously issued two formal warning letters. In 2019, United Utilities also issued a site improvement plan highlighting serious concerns about drainage infrastructure and the risk of pollution. Despite this, incidents continued.

In sentencing, the court found that the company had acted deliberately.

Riley Foods Limited was fined £17,000 and ordered to pay costs of £34,365 as well as a victim surcharge of £2,000.

Edie | Almost two-thirds of UK-based SMEs do not understand how to categorise and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions into Scopes 1, 2, and 3, new polling has revealed.

A survey of more than 1,000 senior decision-makers at SMEs, garnering their approach to environmental strategies, disclosures, and investment plans. The primary focus of the research was decarbonisation.

Researchers concluded that, despite a shared, “genuine ambition” to decarbonise and a widespread recognition of the financial benefits of action, most SMEs continue to face resource and capital constraints as well as knowledge gaps.

Only 13% of the businesses surveyed have made public commitments to net-zero by 2050 or sooner, the UK’s legally binding long-term climate target, and backed these pledges up with formal measures.

This proportion remains unchanged year-on-year. However, it tripled between 2023 and 2024.

Extrapolating the 2025 findings across the whole UK economy, 13% is equivalent to around 715,000 SMEs.

In assessing the credibility of “green” or “net-zero” targets, the researchers looked at whether SMEs calculate and disclose emissions in line with the GHG Protocol’s guidance.

Concerningly, the majority (58%) of the business leaders surveyed claim they have never heard of the definitions of Scope 1 (operational), Scope 2 (power-related), and Scope 3 (indirect) emissions.

These definitions form the basic framework of the GHG Protocol, which, in turn, is foundational to the forthcoming UK and EU sustainability reporting standards.

2026 is set to be a landmark year for changes to sustainability reporting standards across Europe.

The UK Government is consulting on the design of its Sustainability Reporting Standards (SRS) until 17 September 2025, with a view to publishing finalised standards in 2026. It will align with the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) first two standards, published in June 2023. This should ease reporting burdens for businesses operating and trading internationally.

The UK SRS will layer over existing climate risk reporting requirements for large UK businesses, introduced in 2022.

UK businesses with operations and/or sales in Europe are also preparing for the rollout of the EU’s new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Policymakers have delayed the introduction of the Directives by one year. They have also reduced the scope of both CSRD and CSDDD in a bid to ease the burden on SMEs. While SMEs are not directly impacted, they will likely receive additional disclosure requests from their large clients and customers.

Environment Agency | A Telford man has been ordered to pay £1,000 for failing to clear an illegal waste site following a prosecution by the Environment Agency.

At Telford Magistrates Court, Brian Woods, 70, of Limekiln Bank, St Georges, Telford, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a court order to clear waste from a site on Granville Road, Donnington Wood.

He had previously admitted to running a waste operation without a permit, contrary to Environmental Permitting Regulations (the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016).

For that offence, he received a 12-month community order to do 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £1,470 in costs and £114 victim’s surcharge.

The case started in August 2019 when Woods admitted to storing waste on the site between December 2016 and April 2017 without an environmental permit.

The case was adjourned on condition that Woods removed all the waste from the site by 26 July 2020. He was also ordered not to bring any additional waste onto the site.

Between July 2020 and June 2024, Environment Agency officers made several checks on the site to find that the waste had not been removed.

Woods on a number of occasions did not attend scheduled meetings. He cited ill health or medical appointments as the reason.

The defendant said in mitigation that following the collapse of his business he was not in a financial position to clear the site of waste.

It was said some 75% of the waste had now been removed.

NESO | A report by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has found that the March 2025 fire at Heathrow Airport’s North Hyde electrical substation was caused by preventable faults and long-standing maintenance failures.

The incident, which resulted in more than 1,300 flight cancellations and power cuts to thousands of homes, has prompted Ofgem to launch a formal investigation into National Grid’s compliance with its safety obligations.

According to NESO, warnings about moisture in the high-voltage equipment were first raised in 2018, but necessary repairs were not carried out. The report also found that the site’s fire suppression system had been inoperative since 2022.

Energy Secretary Rachel Reeves said: “This was a serious failure in critical national infrastructure. It’s unacceptable that warnings were ignored and that a preventable incident caused such disruption to passengers, businesses, and residents.”

Ofgem confirmed it would be examining whether National Grid had breached its licence conditions, which could lead to enforcement action and fines.

The Heathrow incident has intensified calls for stricter oversight of the UK’s electricity network, with critics arguing that cost-cutting and slow investment in ageing infrastructure are putting public safety at risk.

Richard Black, senior associate at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, commented: “This was an avoidable incident with severe consequences. It underlines the need for consistent investment in maintenance and robust safety systems.”

Environment Agency | Oliver “Luke” Kirkbride has pleaded guilty to multiple offences relating to the illegal operation of waste sites on the Lune Industrial Estate in Lancaster.

Kirkbride appeared at Preston Crown Court and was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and 200 hours unpaid work. He was also banned from being a company director for five years.

An investigation by the Environment Agency revealed that thousands of tonnes of combustible waste was stored in breach of permit conditions, with operations continuing even after a suspension notice was issued.

The abandoned waste led to a major fire in December 2023, which caused significant disruption to neighbouring businesses and left firefighting and clean-up costs of over £2 million.

Large quantities of combustible waste were stored far in excess of the 500-tonne, seven-day limit set in the site’s environmental permit.

In February 2022, the Environment Agency suspended the site’s permit because of the significant fire risk, but waste imports continued until April 2022, and then under a second company until October 2022.

The site’s permit was revoked by the Environment Agency in November 2022.

Between September 2021 and October 2022, Kirkbride, as a company director, was found to have deliberately breached environmental permit limits, operated unpermitted waste sites, repeatedly failed to comply with enforcement notices and deposited waste without the necessary authorisations.

Further offences involve waste storage breaches at Unit C4 and the illegal use of Unit C3, which had no permit in place.

BBC News | A former waste site director has been sentenced after being found guilty of multiple offences relating to illegal practices that led to a major fire in Lancaster.

The blaze at Supa Skips in December 2023, caused by abandoned waste, resulted in clean-up costs exceeding £2 million, the Environment Agency (EA) confirmed.

Thousands of tonnes of combustible waste were stored illegally, far exceeding the 500-tonne, seven-day limit allowed under the site’s environmental permit, Preston Crown Court heard. Despite a suspension notice, operations at the Lune Industrial Estate site continued.

Oliver Kirkbride, 38, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, received a 16-month suspended sentence and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

The EA said the site’s permit was suspended in February 2022 due to fire risks. However, waste continued to be imported until April 2022, and under a second company until October 2022. The permit was fully revoked in November 2022.

Between September 2021 and October 2022, Kirkbride was found to have deliberately breached permit limits, operated unlicensed waste sites, failed to comply with enforcement notices, and deposited waste without proper authorisations. Additional offences included storing waste unlawfully and using an unpermitted unit.

Following sentencing, an EA spokesperson said Kirkbride “repeatedly and deliberately ignored” enforcement action. His actions led to a major fire that “ultimately caused weeks of harm and disruption to local residents and businesses,” the spokesperson added.

Security Industry Authority | A man, Martin McAuley, has been convicted of fraud in his absence after working using a cloned SIA licence and ordered to pay fines and levies equalling £515.

Mr. McAuley was convicted of fraud by false representation and possession of an article used in fraud in Coleraine Magistrates’ Court. He was convicted in his absence on the information available to the court.

This came after he first failed to attend a court hearing for the same offences on 4 July 2025 and the case was adjourned. At this point the court warned that should Mr. McAuley fail to attend on this date, the matter would be dealt with in his absence.

The court fined him £250 for each offence, as well as ordering him to pay an offender levy of £15, totalling £515. Mr. McCauley now has 20 weeks to pay off the full amount of £515.

This prosecution came after Mr. McAuley was found working as a door supervisor and in possession of a cloned SIA licence at The Railway Arms, Coleraine, by an SIA investigations officer on 5 May 2023.

Environment Agency | A transport company will pay a total of £167,587.13 for delivering controlled waste to an illegal site at Fen Lane, Long Bennington, Lincolnshire.

The sentence imposed on Fletcher Plant Limited of Clement Street, Sheffield, is the latest result from a major investigation by the Environment Agency.

At Nottingham Crown Court, the company was fined £80,000, ordered to pay costs of £50,000 and a confiscation order of £37,587.13 for its breach of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.

The company had previously been found guilty in June 2024 after a trial of failing to comply with duty of care regulations for controlled waste between 1 October 2019 and 1 May 2020.

Named ‘Operation Lord’, the investigation saw Environment Agency officers spend months building evidence of the illegal waste site.

The findings led to 12 people and one company, Fletcher Plant, being charged, of which 10 pleaded guilty.

Following an eight-week trial, the remaining three defendants were found guilty.

So far, 11 people have been sentenced to a total of 14 years’ imprisonment for their involvement in this illegal operation.

The court was told that intelligence gathered, revealed lorry-loads of shredded waste were regularly being accepted onto the site the size of a football pitch.

It was calculated that Fletcher Plant, over a period of six months, organised the transport of over 1,400 tonnes of controlled waste.

The judge accepted that the company did not know the site was operating illegally, but its officers had a legal requirement to carry out a duty of care.

The company said it had built a good reputation, and it was the first time it had been prosecuted in over 40 years. A new management team has also been put in place.

HSE | A County Durham waste management company has been fined after a young employee was run over by an excavator.

Farm XS (Northern) Limited, based in Barnard Castle, was sentenced after an incident on 29 January 2024 that left the 24-year-old with serious injuries.

The employee was only in his second week of employment at the Staindrop Road site when he was struck from behind by an excavator and run over. He suffered fractures to both feet.

The HSE found that the company had failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place. The 24-year-old was working on a waste pile near moving vehicles with no physical separation between them. There was no risk assessment or system of work to protect pedestrians from vehicle movements.

Farm XS (Northern) Limited, Shaw Bank, Staindrop Road, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8TD pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £4,285 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Richard McMullen said: “The outcome could have been much worse. But the failures that day meant a worker received serious injuries.

“This incident was easily avoidable by implementing control measures and safe practices to ensure that workers were not put at risk from moving vehicles, including clear segregation and safe refuges.

“This should be a reminder to the waste industry of the need to consider workplace transport risks and to introduce appropriate control measures to separate vehicles and pedestrians.”

This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Iain Jordan and paralegal officer Helen Jacob.

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