Skip hire companies in Barnet fear closure as the cost to tip inert waste soars beyond affordability.

Employers say the new landfill tax rate means they are being forced to pay more to tip waste than they can be expected to charge customers to shift it.

Last Friday Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced waste transfer stations will now be charged £64 a tonne for inert material, such as dust and stones, rather than the previous lower rate of £2.50.

Arthur Lawrence, 34, has owned his skip company KSR Skips in Barnet for more than six years but fears the end of his business is imminent.

He said: “It’s going to finish a lot of us. We can’t hire out skips because we don’t know how much we’re going to be charged.

“I’ve hired out 70-80 skips out to customers for £170 but I could now be charged £300-500 to tip each one.”

Looking to the future, Mr Lawrence worries very few people would be willing to pay hundreds of pounds more to hire a skip.

He said: “At the moment not a lot of people have even got £170 to pay us for a skip never mind £3-500. You’ll end up seeing people fly-tipping.”

Mr Lawrence’s father, Cliff Lawrence, 62, has just spent £15,000 on setting up his own skip hire company in Potters Bar and Radlett.

He said: “It’s devastating. It’s the small man being targeted again.”

Steve Jones has been running Jones Skip Hire Ltd for four years. He said: “It’s going to cost me around £15-20,000 to get my skips in. I’ve got 90 out there at the moment. I’m concerned I’m going to have to shut up shop.”

A spokesman for HMRC said: “HMRC responded to concerns expressed by landfill operators that some companies were not paying the right rate of tax and in the process disadvantaging those who paid the correct rate.

“We have addressed this anomaly by issuing fresh guidance to ensure a level playing field for all businesses working in landfill.”