A WOOD burning stove installer was fined more than £3,000 after he was taken to court by Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards team.

Dylan Jones, aged 40 from Abertridwr, who trades as Castle Fire and Stoves, Nantgarw Road, Caerphilly, was the latest person to be prosecuted by Trading Standards.

He pleaded guilty to four offences contrary to the Fraud Act 2006 and two offences contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, relating to the supply and fitting of five stoves in the homes of customers from Caerphilly, Bedwas, Newbridge and Hirwaun.

Over recent years, Trading Standards have prosecuted a number of installers for dangerous installations, and in this case, Jones falsely claimed that he was a registered HETAS installer, which resulted in the investigation by Trading Standards being undertaken against him.

While previously a HETAS registered installer, in the case of Jones, while thankfully none of the installations were found to be unsafe, they caused distress and financial loss to the consumers who Jones carried out the work for.

When the case was heard on January, 12 2018 at Newport Magistrates Court, Jones was fined a total of £3,920, ordered to pay costs to the council of £1,518.75, compensation to consumers of £1,538.40 and a victim surcharge of £73.

In sentencing, the chair of the Bench said: “The amount of fines is substantial because in setting the level of the fine we took into account the fact that you had previously been registered with HETAS so you understood its need and purpose, and that it is there to predominantly protect the public.
"Our paramount concern is the potential of harm to the public”.

Linked to this case, 44-year-old Robert Evans who traded as Reds Property Maintenance of Penybryn was also convicted of one offence contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Evans, who was a HETAS accredited installer, was asked by Jones to supply a certificate for one of the installations, although having initially indicating he would do, did not.

He was fined £500, ordered to pay £360 costs to the council and a £50 victim surcharge.

Cllr Eluned Stenner, cabinet member with responsibility for Public Protection said: “These actions could have potentially proven extremely dangerous indeed to unsuspecting customers, who paid for a service they thought they were receiving from a fully accredited installer.

"Our Trading Standards team work very tirelessly indeed to ensure that unscrupulous traders do not get away with duping customers and therefore ensuring that our residents remain safe in their own homes."

To report an issue to Caerphilly county borough’s Trading Standards team, visit www.caerphilly.gov.uk/tradingstandards