A RUBBISH removal company in the Three Towns faces being closed down or sold after its owner was convicted of over-dumping at a site in Stevenston.

Boyd Brothers, based in Moorpark Road East, provides skip hire and waste removal services throughout Ayrshire and has been operating for more than five decades.

However, the business may no longer be able to continue after William Boyd was hit with a confiscation order.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court this week, 60-year-old Boyd was told to stump up £215,000 within six months for contravening a condition of his SEPA waste management licence, which he has held since 1999.

Court papers stated that on more than 20 occasions over a three-year period, from October 2016 to May 2019, at the Stevenston yard, the quantity of waste on site exceeded the permitted 200 tonnes.

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Boyd, of Barga Gardens, Saltcoats, breached the condition of his licence eight times in 2016, on nine occasions in 2017, six occasions in 2018, and twice in 2019.

Defence solicitor Simon Brown told Monday’s hearing that Boyd will either have to sell the business or close it down.

Mr Brown said: “He is in a position to pay a financial penalty but all of his liquid assets are in the business.”

Sheriff Colin Bissett deferred sentence for six months to allow SEPA to carry out further investigations and submit reports on the progress of the clean-up operation at the site.

Boyd must pay his confiscation order of £215,000 by July 7.