A MAJOR fly-tipping site that gives off "toxic smoke" has been found.

Made up of around 40 different mounds of rubbish the site has caused problems including catching fire, spewing toxic smoke and polluting a local stream.

Discovered by the Environment Agency the household and commercial waste was dumped by trespassers and cost around £100,000 to clear up.

Following an extensive investigation by the agency, it identified three men involved in dumping the waste at the Hulbert Road site in Havant.

Daniel Worboys of Rubbish Clearance Portsmouth, Jason Newman of What A Load Of Rubbish and Sidney Simpson of S&S Clearances pleaded guilty for dumping waste illegally at Portsmouth Magistrates Court, including waste collected from a church in Portsmouth.

All three men were sentenced to 12-weeks imprisonment suspended for 12-months after the rubbish site was found last September.

Worboys was ordered to pay £1,500 compensation and admitted he had collected waste from a number of customers that he dumped at the site near Havant.

Newman was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation with the Environment Agency finding paperwork belonging to him at the site.

It also found he had dumped waste collected from a housing association and a landlord as part of a house clearance.

Simpson was ordered to pay £,1000 compensation.

He was employed to clear household and business waste from a church in Portsmouth by the pastor who had employed him before.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said:

“Their actions showed blatant disregard for the environment. These waste criminals also undermine legitimate businesses.

“In cases like this, we have no hesitation in prosecuting those involved as we want to make sure that waste crime doesn’t pay.

“We all have a part to play in stopping waste crime. We encourage the public to ask to see their waste collector’s ‘Waste Carriers Registration’ and demand a ‘Waste Transfer Note’, which states where they are taking the waste to be disposed of”.