Waste firm’s hopes down the drain

Waste disposal giants Sita UK — furious after losing out in a bidding war for a £4billion contract in Greater Manchester — have had their hopes of massive compensation dashed by top judges.

Sita accused the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority of breaches of procurement rules when it awarded the enormous contract to trade rivals Viridor Laing in April, 2009.

Viridor is now responsible for Greater Manchester’s recycling and waste management over the next 25 years, creating a network of state of the art recycling facilities.

Sita pointed out that the contract with Viridor in April, 2009, was worth £3.8billion — £500million more expensive than Sita, who said they would have done the job with a smaller workforce.

The company also argued that the £640 million construction programme involved in the Viridor Laing bid was much higher than would have had to be spent had Sita won the contract.

Sita had its case against the authority “struck out” last year by Mr Justice Mann, who said the company had lodged its case too late.

Despite a last-ditch bid to overturn that decision at the Court of Appeal, Sita’s challenge was dismissed by three of the country’s most senior judges.

The judges ruled the company’s case had rightly been struck out as Sita did not launch its case against the authority until August, 2009, despite the company’s plea that it did not realise the full extent of flaws in the process until the previous month.