THE managing director of a York-based shoe company has spoken out after his firm has been slapped with a £25,000 fine.

Stuart Paver, managing director of Pavers Shoes, has described as a “waste of time” the court case that landed his company with the hefty fine.

He has called on the Environment Agency to act and prevent other importing companies ending up with a similar fate.

Mr Paver told York magistrates the Environment Agency did not tell his firm it needed to register under packaging waste disposal regulations as a large-scale importer. The court heard the company did not register until 2008, and therefore did not have the certificates to prove its recycling actions or official packaging waste recycling notes.

As soon as the firm learned at a mail order conference that it had to register, it did so. That led to the agency to prosecute it for not registering earlier.

Pavers Shoes, employs 100 people at its headquarters and has 88 shops in the UK and Ireland, it recycles 85 per cent of its annual waste pile of 485 tonnes.

It also spent £350,000 during construction on reducing its headquarters’ carbon footprint and takes the equivalent of 1,000 lorry loads off the road and on to the railways every year.

“Unfortunately we have wasted everybody’s time,” Mr Paver said outside court. “If the Environment Agency informs companies as they should, a lot more people would be coming up with these fees and not end up wasting the courts’ time.”

Nigel Hamilton, for the Environment Agency, told magistrates that because it had not registered, the company had not paid £17,169.81 in a Government “tax” on importing packaging waste and annual registration fees.

“The Environment Agency position is that ignorance is no defence,” he said.

The offences were serious because they had occurred over a long period of time, but the agency did not suggest that the company had deliberately evaded the regulations. Pavers Shoes, of Northminster Business Park, pleaded guilty to 12 recycling charges committed between 2003 and 2006 and asked for three more in 2007 to be taken into consideration.

York magistrates fined it £20,000, plus £4,204 compensation for the unpaid registration fees, plus £1,615.70 prosecution costs, plus a £15 Government-imposed victim surcharge.

Environment Agency officer Justin Jones said: “This case is a warning to other companies that they must ensure they comply with all current environmental legislation.

“Ignorance is no defence because everyone has the responsibility to protect the environment for future generations.”