Businessman Anthony Clark has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £890 costs, after he dumped commercial waste at a domestic tip in Stanton St Quintin.

Clark, the managing director of Converters European Limited in Calne, appeared before magistrates in Chippenham on Monday when he pleaded guilty to three counts of disposing of waste incorrectly.

Simon Rundle, prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, said Clark dumped controlled waste knowingly.

"There is a sign outside the dump as you go in that says no commercial waste should be taken into the site," said Mr Rundle.

Clark took more than ten black bags of commercial waste into the dump and started unloading them from his vehicle. "One of the dump employees saw him unloading a lot of rubbish so he went over and asked him if it was all domestic waste and Mr Clark said it was," said Mr Rundle.

But when Clark left the site the employee went over to the compressor and saw several bags of commercial waste. Among the waste were documents addressed to Converters European Ltd.

"The employee contacted the Environment Agency and handed the waste and documents to us. When we confronted Mr Clark he admitted what he had done," said Mr Rundle.

He said the incident had involved deliberate deceit from Clark because he had lied to the employee.

But in court Clark said no one approached him at the site and he did not think the sign was clear enough because it did not say you could be prosecuted for dumping non-domestic waste.

"It was only foam that I deposited, just like the stuff you get in a settee that would be classed as domestic waste," said Mr Clark.

Clark said that his firm opened in January and any fine would seriously affect it. He was shocked and angered by the large fine and asked the court clerk how he could lodge an appeal.