Retailers face increasingly harsh penalties and even jail sentences for breaking environmental regulations, an expert has warned.
Last week, the Environment Agency (EA) named and shamed several store groups - many repeat offenders - that have been fined for environmental damage.
They included Tesco, fined£10,000 plus costs last year - the second year running it has been fined - for spilling 6,000 litres of fuel.
Although some fines were small compared with company profits, environmental lawyer Denise Dowen at Halliwell Landau said the EA is keen to pile the pressure on offenders.
'The EA is on a huge push at the moment to encourage courts to impose higher sentences for environmental crimes,' she said. 'The average fine is still low, but we are seeing examples of stiffer penalties (in other sectors) at the higher end of six-figure sums.'
Information released by Halliwell Landau shows that Budgens and, for an incident that occurred before the arrival of current management, Stationery Box also received fines of more than£10,000 last year.
Budgens said in a statement that it 'greatly regrets' the incident it was involved in and that a store manager concerned 'quite simply failed to follow procedures'.
Dowen said there is at least one example of a company director being imprisoned for breaking environmental regulations, although there have been no instances yet in the retail sector.
Many retailers are likely to face fines under the Packaging Regulations, according to Dowen.
'Many companies are not aware of the regulations,' she said.
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