A Derbyshire plumber has appeared in court for carrying out gas work without being registered and for failing to notice faults on an unsafe boiler.
Northern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard that between December 2012 and February 2014, Christopher Buck carried out gas work at a number of properties without being registered with Gas Safe, as the law requires.
It was a deliberate breach because he knew of the need to be formally accredited, after previously allowing an earlier registration to lapse.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on November 27, 2013, revealed that Mr Buck had serviced a boiler at a house in Inkersall, but failed to carry out all the necessary safety checks. He did not spot that pipework was not properly sealed, which meant the boiler was unsafe and posed a potential risk to those living in the property.
Mr Buck pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 3(3) and 26(9) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, for both breaches, to run concurrently. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work and to pay costs of £748.
HSE inspector, Edward Walker, said: “Mr Buck knew there was a requirement to be registered and that he should not have been carrying out the work, so there was a deliberate breach. Not only was he not registered but he did not take due diligence when it came to carrying out the safety checks as part of the boiler service. Subsequently, he was leaving the people in the property at risk.”
Since this article was published Mr Buck has been reinstated on the Gas Safe Register.