Huge disruption and damage was caused when a large blaze broke out at a waste site after the owner repeatedly ignored warnings that it posed a fire risk.
Waste kept illegally at Clifford Shee's site in Gateshead went up in flames five months after the facility had been closed down by the Environment Agency.
The blaze, in February last year at Shee Recycling, on Durham Road, Birtley, saw a major incident declared as the East Coast rail line closed, schools shut down, residents were told to stay indoors and local businesses were disrupted to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds as Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service deployed more than 250 officers and 10 appliances to tackle it.
