Tyre fire couple ordered to sell Spanish home

A couple who ran an illegal tyre storage site where a fire caused serious travel disruption and led to the closure of local schools have been ordered to sell their property in Spain.

Stuart Bedford was jailed for 12 months in 2024 over the operation of sites in Bradford and Doncaster, while his wife Vicky Bedford was given a 12-month community order.

It came after a blaze in 2020 at their Equalityre site in Bradford which burned for almost three weeks.

At a hearing on Thursday, Stuart Bedford, from Harrogate, was told to pay £43,936 within three months or face a further nine months in jail. Vicky Bedford, from Ripon, was told to pay £35,000 within three months or face eight months in jail.

The couple had previously been sentenced at the same court in 2024 after admitting operating an unauthorised regulated facility and keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution and harm to human health.

The fire started on 16 November 2020 and was not put out until 5 December. The toxic fumes it produced caused 25 schools to close temporarily and is believed to have cost the fire service more than £1m to manage.

Prosecutor Joseph Millington, on behalf of the Environment Agency, told Bradford Crown Court the couple's company had made £1,835,000 from the criminality, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"This is how much they earned from bringing tyres on the site and the costs avoided from not disposing of them legally," he said.

He said the company had been found to have no current assets and asked the court to make a nominal £1 confiscation order.

Mr Millington said Stuart Bedford benefitted personally from the crimes to the tune of £257,379, while Vicky Bedford received £91,293.

He said the couple's main asset was a house in Spain, which when sold would generate about £35,000 for each of them.

Stuart Bedford also had a Spanish bank account with €10,000 (£8,700) in it.

The court heard Meridian, which had owned the Doncaster site, had spent £7,500 to remove tyres from the land.

The Bradford site was owned by Mohammed Yaqoob who had incurred around £89,000 in clearing the site.

Mr Millington said: "Mr Yaqoob impressed on me the dramatic impact this has had on his life, his finances and his wellbeing and the health of his family.

"It is important victims of crime have a voice in this court."

The judge ordered £7,500 confiscated from the Bedfords to be awarded to Meridian, while the remaining £71,581 was awarded to Mr Yaqoob.

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