Cheshire fitter carried out dangerous gas work and faked registration

A Cheshire property services contractor has been given a suspended prison sentence after he pretended to be Gas Safe registered and carried out gas work that was Immediately Dangerous.

Crewe Magistrates’ Court heard that, on 1 June 2019, Robert Allen, a self-employed contractor trading as A&E Property Services, replaced the boiler at a property in Ledward Street, Winsford.

Problems arose after the installation, including loss of pressure and water leaks. In August 2019, a registered gas engineer found multiple issues with the installation, including inadequately sized pipework, and reported the installation under RIDDOR.

The HSE investigation found that Mr Allen had never been Gas Safe registered. He had given himself a false registration number and fraudulently used the registration number of a completely unconnected company.

Inspection of the work at Ledward Street found five separate serious defects, including an unsealed flue, a pressure-relief valve in the wrong place, undersized gas pipework, an uncommissioned appliance, and corrosion to the gas pipework. The court heard that the defects could have led to carbon monoxide leakage, scalding, unsafe combustion and unburned gas release, which could have proved fatal.

Robert Allen of Nixon Drive, Winsford, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to two breaches of Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998 and breaches of Regulation 3(7) and Regulation 5(3). He was given a 40-week suspended sentence, ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service and made to pay costs of £5,263.04