A metal container, an offshore holding company and a £2,000-plus court bill look set to cause a legal showdown in Bradford.

Residents complained after the huge container was placed on land off Windhill Old Road, Thackley, months ago by a firm based in the Isle of Man.

In March, Bradford Council issued a notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 requiring the firm to shift the container. But it is still there.

Wardour Ltd, of Hope Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, yesterday admitted failing to comply with an enforcement notice and was fined £1,000 by the city's magistrates, who also ordered the company to pay £1,210 costs.

In mitigation, solicitor Richard Moss told the court that as the firm was officially "dormant" and as it had never traded, it had no income and was unlikely to have any money in the foreseeable future.

He conceded that it owned the land in question.

The magistrates ordered that the full amount must be paid within 28 days or a representative would have to return to court to explain why.

Mr Moss said that on the day the container was placed on the land it was one of several which were to be moved to another site, but access was blocked by a mound of earth.

When a JCB started moving the earth, residents blocked access to the site and the container was transferred temporarily to the derelict land off Windhill Old Road.

A director of the firm, John Anthony Booker, had undertaken to have the container removed but would need 30 days in which to have it to be done, said Mr Morris.

Julie Sou, prosecuting for Bradford Council, said the site was a former railway line.

In April, the firm asked for the enforcement notice to be withdrawn pending a planning application, but the Council refused.