A truck with no number plates deliberately dumped materials containing asbestos at a medical clinic driveway in Melbourne’s southeast on Saturday afternoon.
The three men in the truck were caught on CCTV video and can be seen checking the premises before dumping the toxic materials wrapped tightly in plastic on the driveway between medical centres.
Specialist GP Doctor Billy Stoupas, a practitioner at one of the medical centres where the asbestos was dumped, said in an interview with A Current Affair: “There’s three blokes that get out of the car, prepare it and then just dump a whole bunch of stuff in the middle of the driveway.”
“Little did we know at the time it was a truckload of asbestos,” Stoupas said.
The medical clinic was temporarily forced to close down and cancel 60 patients’ appointments due to the toxic waste.
The local council was unable to help with the removal of the dumped materials on the private property, leaving a $2500 bill to the owner of the driveway.
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria CEO, Lee Miezis, said in the interview with A Current Affair: “It’s shocking and we will throw all our resources into catching these people.”
EPA Victoria said the fines for polluting are up to $800,000 for an individual and $4 million for a company.
Source: A Current Affair.
