Licensed waste firms ‘fly-tip on country roads’
Rubbish tracked to country lane just off A1
WASTE disposal firms with government licences are flytipping on country lanes.
All businesses that transport and dispose of waste in England must be licensed with the Environment Agency but the BBC discovered that checks for licences were so lax they could even be obtained by providing false names and are also given to firms involved in dumping.
The most recent government statistics show there were more than a million fly-tipping incidents in 2019 in England alone.
As incidents soared in the first lockdown, with cases tripling in rural communities, it prompted the Government to set up a unit to tackle the issue.
Reporters from Panorama filled a garage in Harlow, Essex, with rubbish that would be difficult to dispose of without paying fees under the landfill tax.
Presenter Richard Bilton and the team put tracking devices in the waste then hired a licensed firm to dispose of it.
The report claimed that a responsible company would have charged
£200 for the removal and disposal but reporters hired Bears Waste Disposal, from Letchworth, Herts, which offered £120.
The items were later found fly-tipped in a country lane just off the A1.
Chris Poulter, from Bears Waste Disposal, later told Panorama that he had never fly-tipped and he had subcontracted the job. He said: “I am sorry this happened. I would never take any jobs on with the intention of it being fly-tipped.” The programme, which airs on Monday, March 1, at 7.35pm on BBC1, also found that licences could be easily obtained by filling in a form online and paying a fee. While it demands applicants disclose any convictions for environmental crimes, people qualified if they admitted an offence.
One reporter obtained a licence in the name of Oscar the Dog to highlight the flaws in the system. A spokesman for the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs said: “We will reform the licensing system to ensure stricter background checks.”
THE Queen has decided who will take over patronages from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and it is thought she will announce her choices to the Royal Family in the coming weeks.
It is understood the monarch decided “long ago” who would be suited for the roles, prior to the announcement last week that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not return to The Firm.
Princess Anne, 70, is tipped to take over from Harry, 36, as Captain General of the Royal Marines. Prince Edward, 56, or his wife Sophie, 56, could replace Meghan, 39, as National Theatre patron.
The National Theatre last week thanked Meghan for “championing” its work with communities and young
people, and the Mirror understands the board was “deeply split” over whether to ask her to carry on in an unofficial role.
Prince Harry has been Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, since 2008, a patronage likely to go to Prince William.
Harry’s role as Commodore-in-Chief Small Ships and Diving must also be filled. Sophie Wessex may also take over from Meghan as Patron of The Association of Commonwealth Universities.
Harry also lost his patronages of England Rugby Union and the Rugby Football League. League chiefs hope William, 38, will take over as the face of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
Harry and Meghan’s roles as president and VP of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust are also vacant. The pair were seen yesterday in an online event for Spotify.
A royal source said: “When the writing was on the wall and it was clear the Duke and Duchess had no intention of coming back into the fold and being part of the team, the Queen made her mind up long ago over her preferred candidates for the roles they vacated.”
Buckingham Palace did not comment.
ROBBIE Williams still looks back in anger at the jibes by Noel and Liam Gallagher that forced him to flee Britain.
The singer had a long-running feud with the Oasis brothers in the 1990s and 2000s. They traded insults and Robbie famously challenged rock frontman Liam to a boxing match at the 2000 Brits awards. Former Take That star Robbie, now 47, gave as good as he got in the feud
– but he says the insults, echoed by most of the rock establishment and sections of the media, were “unbearable”. It left him depressed and eventually inspired his move to Los Angeles in 2004. Robbie said: “My brand of entertainment wasn’t deemed worthy because of how I presented myself. There was a culture of ‘Robbie Williams is not cool’.
“That was apart from the three million people who bought my albums. “Every time I watched TV programmes, there were people being hateful about me. That was just wrong and grotesque. It was unbearable. I just left the country.
“Liam said that I should be hung, Noel said I was ‘the fat dancer from Take That’.
“I remember every single syllable of every single thing they’ve ever said about me.”
He patched up his differences with Liam, 48, last year after the rocker sent a supportive message when he heard Robbie’s dad had Parkinson’s.
But Robbie still holds resentment towards Noel, 53.
Dad-of-four Robbie, married since 2010 to model Ayda Field, told the Talent Takes Practice podcast: “I could talk for two hours about why Noel’s s***.
“Isn’t it interesting what a few words can do to your whole life? As a father of four I have more perspective on it. I’m not saying I’m healed from all of that, because I’m not.” Robbie and Liam started out as friends and hung out together at Glastonbury in 1995 – but the feud erupted shortly afterwards.
Every time I watched TV, people were hateful. It was just grotesque
ROBBIE WILLIAMS ON CRITICISM HE RECEIVED
SUPPORTED by a walking frame, the greatest footballer the world has ever seen shuffles before the cameras, his frailty there for all to see.
But then Pele reveals a glimpse of his legendary fighting spirit by throwing the aid away to grab hold of a chair for what may be his last in-depth interviews.
The 80-year-old, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in October 1940, scored a record 1,279 goals and is the only player to win the World Cup three times.
But although the legs are no longer as strong, his memory remains sharp as he talks about his incredible career for the new Netflix film, Pele.
Director David Tryhorn says it was important to show Pele tossing the frame to one side at the beginning of the film, which pulls together eight interviews the star did with his team.
“We didn’t stage that at all,” says Tryhorn. “We felt it was important to show one of the greatest athletes experience problems with walking, but still rejects that. We always knew we wanted to start with that punch to the gut.”
Pele recalls how he initially shone shoes as a boy to raise money for the family, but vowed to win the World Cup for his father when he saw how upset he was when Brazil lost in 1950 as they listened on the radio.
If I say I came back in 1970 for the people of Brazil I’d be lying... I came back for me
PELE ON BEING COAXED OUT OF RETIREMENT FOR WORLD CUP
PRESSURE
By the age of 15 he had a trial at Sao Paulo team Santos and just a few months later he scored his first professional goal on his debut.
In the film, Pele joins former Santos team-mates at a barbecue but has to be pushed along in a wheelchair. However, he remains upbeat and seems delighted to see his old friends, grinning from ear to ear during his time with them.
He jokes: “Look how well I am,” and takes control of the wheels briefly to spin around in the chair to cheers from his ex-team-mates.
The climax of the film is about the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, a time when Brazil was in the grip of a murderous dictatorship and football was a release.
It meant there was huge pressure on the team and especially Pele, who had said he would not play in another World Cup having been hacked down and injured in England in 1966.
He says he “always” felt pressure to return to the national side and adds: “I’d always get offers to go and speak to politicians and people in power.
“There were always people wanting
me to come back. I was torn, I didn’t want to play in the 70 World Cup. I didn’t want to go through what I went through in England. I was in doubt.
“I was worried but also I missed it. I just wanted to be remembered. But if I sit here and say ‘I came back for the 1970 World Cup because of the Brazilian people’ I’d be lying. I came back for me.”
Recalling the build up to the final against Italy, Pele breaks down in tears.
He then admits that he was reduced to tears on his way to the game.
He says: “When we were just about to arrive at the stadium and I looked out the window and saw all the fans with Brazil flags shouting ‘Brazil, Pele!’ it made me burst into tears.
“I wanted to stop crying but I couldn’t. I was the oldest player and I didn’t want the other players to think ‘why is he crying?’ It was emotional, an outpouring. ‘God this is my last World Cup, I want you to help me in my last World
Cup’.” Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil, a close friend of Pele, sums up the mood of the nation at that time.
He says: “It was a period where the dictatorship in Brazil was at its most extreme. It was the peak of repression, censorship, and the restriction of speech. “Amongst it all there lay an oasis of beauty and hope, of positive and stimulating emotion, which was the 1970
World Cup. Pele was a shining star glowing in the black sky of Brazilian life.
“He symbolised Brazil’s potential to be a fairer and happier country. That’s what Pele represented.”
Pele helped Brazil to a memorable 4-1 victory in the final in Mexico City, scoring the opening goal and creating the fourth.
The team met holders England in the group stage and beat them 1-0. Pele adds:
“The 1970 World Cup was the best time of my life, but it was more important for the country because if Brazil had lost in 70 everything could have become worse.
“The whole country could take a breath when we became champions. 1970 definitely did more for Brazil than it did for football.”
The film will be the first sight for many people of Pele with mobility problems.
Speaking last year, his son Edinho told Brazilian TV channel Globo that his father’s health was not good.
He said: “He’s pretty fragile. He had a hip replacement and didn’t have an adequate or ideal rehabilitation.
“So he has this problem with mobility and that has set off a kind of depression.
“Imagine, he’s the king, he was always such an imposing figure, and today he can’t walk properly.
“He’s embarrassed, he doesn’t want to go out, be seen, or do practically anything that involves leaving the house. He is reclusive.” Pele released a statement denying any depression.
He said in February last year: “Thank you for your prayers and concerns. I am fine. I’m turning 80 this year.
“I have my good and bad days. This is normal for people my age. I am not afraid, I am determined. I am confident in what I do.
“Last week, I had the honour of meeting the CBF president in the studio where I was recording my documentary.
“I had two photo sessions last month for campaigns that use my image and testimony. I have several upcoming events scheduled.
“I do not avoid meeting commitments from my always busy schedule. I continue to accept my physical limitations in the best possible way, but I intend to keep the ball rolling. God bless you all.”
Pele is out today on Netflix.
Pele was a shining star glowing in the black sky of life in Brazil
GILBERTO GIL MUSICIAN PAL ON 1970 WORLD CUP