REPEATED 999 call outs to the notorious Waste4Fuel recycling plant in St Paul's Cray have cost the taxpayer over half a million pounds.

Since December 3 2011 the London Fire Brigade has sent over 550 fire engines to 11 fires at the Cornwall Drive site - with ten of the fires coming in the last nine months.

This represents over 1,958 working hours and more than £560,000 in time and firefighting resources.

In a bid to reduce the impact on London's tax payers, the brigade has now written to the Environment Agency urging them to intervene.

In November the Environment Agency successfully obtained a High Court injunction against Waste4Fuel Ltd, requiring the company to remove all combustible waste from the site by May 1.

But despite this fire chiefs are concerned, unless the Environment Agency closely monitors the site, the current level of fires will continue.

Chairman of London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority James Cleverly said: "Not only are these fires a significant drain on the brigade’s time and resources and a huge waste of taxpayers money, they are also causing considerable disruption to people living, working and studying in the area.

"The very nature of the materials stored at recycling centres like this one also means that if there is a fire it can often spread rapidly and unpredictably, increasing the risk to firefighters."