Family put at risk by incompetent installer

An unqualified gas worker has been sentenced after illegal gas work at a home in Ulverston left a family of four without heating or hot water for six weeks and exposed them to serious safety risks.  

Lee Lancaster, 38, fitted a gas combi boiler and gas pipework in February 2024, but engineers from Cadent later found three leaks and cut off the supply, with Gas Safe Register investigators classing the installation as Immediately Dangerous.   

Lancaster, of New Market Street, Ulverston, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 3(1) and 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, where he must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £2,000 costs.