A self-employed kitchen fitter from Tyneside has been sentenced for putting the lives of homeowners at risk after falsely claiming to be Gas Safe registered.
Neil Scott was contracted by a local kitchen fitting firm to carry out work at three properties in Newcastle where kitchens were being refurbished between 1 September and 31 December 2012. The work involved installing gas appliances, including gas hobs and in one case a central heating boiler.
The kitchen fitting company later contacted Gas Safe to check the work and a Gas Safe regional investigations officer switched off the boiler when it was found to have faults that could have endangered life or property if operated.
Following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Mr Scott was prosecuted at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court yesterday (4 March) for multiple gas safety breaches.
When asked by the kitchen company, he had fraudulently claimed he was Gas Safe registered. However, Mr Scott had never been Gas Safe registered and was not sufficiently competent to carry out the work.
He was fined a total of £6,000 and ordered to pay £500 in costs after pleading guilty to six breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 – three each of Regulation 3(3) and Regulation 3(7).