Unsafe Gas Fire Costs Plumber £5000
The owner of a Leamington Spa plumbing and heating business which installed a gas fire at a property in Nuneaton that later had to be disconnected because of safety concerns has been ordered to pay £5000 following a Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service investigation.
At Nuneaton Magistrates Court on 25th November 2010, Andy Veall, trading as Andy Veall Plumbing and Heating of Rugby Road Leamington Spa pleaded guilty to two offences and was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £5000.
In November 2009 an employee of Mr Veall’s business installed an inset gas fire in a Nuneaton home. Following the installation the homeowners became concerned by the pipe work that had been left in place and called in Gas Safe Register, the official body for gas safety in the UK.
Their engineers examined the gas fire, found it to be unsafe and disconnected it until work could be done to make it safe. The gas fire had not been installed properly and a back boiler, which should have been removed, had been left in place.
The complaint was brought to the attention of Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service and their investigation led to the prosecution.
Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, said: “Dangerous gas work can have devastating consequences. It is vital that plumbing and heating engineers take their responsibilities seriously and ensure that gas appliances are properly installed.”
In mitigation, Mr Veall, who represented himself, said that he had not attempted to mislead the customers and that the back boiler should have been removed as stated on his estimate. He admitted that the firm did not have any procedures in place to ensure that work was adequately checked because they were a relatively new firm and didn’t know what procedures they required.
He further stated that the business now had procedures in place to check gas appliances following their installation and that two employees had been retrained in fitting gas fires.
Mr Veall pleaded guilty to one Consumer Protection Regulation offence for which he was fined £500 and one Health and Safety offence for which he was fined £2,700. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15 and a contribution to costs of £1800.