THREE business partners at a Gwynedd skip hire company have appeared in court charged with breaking environmental laws.

Porthmadog Skip Hire Ltd company director Patricia Mary Gaffey and partners Joseph Benedict Gaffey and Michael John Gaffey are each accused of 10 counts of environmental offences, including keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to health, failing to comply with environmental permit conditions and failing to comply with the suspension of a waste management notice.

The company itself is charged with a single count of contravening the requirements of an environmental permit.

Patricia Gaffey, 63, of Fferm Bwlchyllyn, Y Fron, Joseph Gaffey, 52, of Garth Terrace, Porthmadog, and Michael Gaffey, 58, of Maes Gerddi, Porthmadog, all appeared before Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday where they gave no indication of plea.

Prosecutor Juliette Simms told magistrates the charges related to a “transfer site” at the company’s Porthmadog base on the Penamser Industrial Estate.

All offences are alleged to have taken place between 1 June 2014 and 30 September 2015.

Magistrates declined jurisdiction in the matter and the case will now go up to the crown court at Caernarfon.

The first hearing in that court will be on Monday, 8 August and all three defendants were given unconditional bail until that date.