Case Studies

Hitech Equipment Ltd

Award-winning Hitech Equipment Ltd specialises in innovative solutions to waste disposal challenges. Since 1985, the business has offered a comprehensive range of services – from drain cleaning to drummed waste disposal and tanker hire to oil recycling – operating from bases in Paisley and Ellesmere Port.

In 2006, Hitech’s forward-thinking approach won the family-run company a National Recycling Award for the Best Waste Minimisation Project of the Year and the following year, it became part of Augean PLC, adding its expertise and skills to Augean’s specialist hazardous waste management services. 

Derek Hutton, a director of Hitech who runs the Ellesmere Port site, has a long association with Dyne Solicitors Limited. The link dates back to the 1990s, when Derek was first advised by Jonathan Lawton, now a Dyne Solicitors consultant, on issues including road traffic, transport and environmental matters and public inquiries. Through Jonathan, he also subsequently worked with John Dyne.

Late in 2008, Derek again turned to Dyne Solicitors after one of his drivers was prosecuted for driving a vehicle which he was allegedly not entitled to drive. Hitech had sought guidance from their local police force and from the DVLA website and were confident that the driver was legally entitled to drive the vehicle but another police force took a different view.

When Derek contacted Dyne Solicitors, he was referred to James Mannouch, the firm’s head of employment law. Although they had not worked together before, at their first meeting he says James “instantly put me at ease” as he established the facts of the case.

At an initial hearing at Northwich magistrates, the case was referred back to the Crown Prosecution Service on the grounds that it was to be defended. Derek says: “Over the next six or eight weeks, James entered into a great deal of correspondence with the CPS, which led to the case being dismissed. Because it was dismissed before a hearing, we were also eligible for costs.

“Apart from one trip to Dyne Solicitors for the driver to be interviewed and one for James to see the vehicle, James sorted it all out with minimal disruption to us. We have come out of the case with a clean bill of health and I am delighted with the outcome.”