Lightning Strikes Twice
Two unannounced visits to the Darent Industrial Estate last week by a multi-agency enforcement team found evidence of a range of illegal activities and led to a number of arrests and further investigations.
In a carefully-planned operation led by Bexley Council Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers, officers from the London Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police (including the local Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team and the Traffic division), the Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Department for Works and Pensions, Revenue and Customs and the Vehicle Operators Services Agency, as well as Council officers, visited the estate on Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 May.
A vehicle checkpoint was set up at which a number of arrests were made. Some of the vehicles that were stopped were found to be uninsured and/or unroadworthy and were seized or prohibited from moving. Several vehicles were identified as illegally carrying waste materials and a significant number of people were identified as benefit fraudsters.
On the estate itself, one or more of the agencies involved visited various premises. These visits identified further instances of benefit fraud, unsafe work activities, illegal waste collection and disposal, and resulted in the recovery of one motorbike that is believed to be lost or stolen.
"The aims of the exercise were to help enhance worker and public safety, ensure the protection of the environment, protect businesses from unfair trading practices and illegal activities, and to discourage anti-social activity," explains Cllr Gareth Bacon, Bexley Council's Cabinet member for the Environment. "It is already clear that the operation has had a significant impact and that the collective efforts of the agencies involved have been a great success."
"Because our primary targets were 'rogue traders', the exercise had to be conducted without warning any of the local businesses," adds Clive Cain, the Council's Head of Public Protection for the Business Sector. "Although it will have caused temporary disruption to all the businesses on the estate we believe this was justified by the long-term benefits to the whole community."
In late 2006 there were three major fires on the estate. These fires caused significant damage to property, interference with business, and put the lives of fire fighters in particular at serious risk. Following the fires the Borough Commander for the London Fire Brigade and some of the businesses sought help in dealing with rogue traders and the major hazards present on the site.
In March all businesses on the estate were surveyed and invited to attend briefings on managing the risk of fire and the hazards posed by the numerous gas cylinders scattered about the estate. When involved in fires these cylinders can explode like bombs and become flying 'missiles'. A training day was organised for all of the businesses, but only about a third attended. The Council organised a 'cylinder amnesty' and arranged for the collection and disposal of unwanted/abandoned gas cylinders. In a two week period, the Council collected 230 unwanted gas cylinders from the estate and returned them to the manufacturers.
