Jail is becoming the standard punishment for unregistered gas fitters, with courts handing out a dozen prison sentences inside a year.
The prosecutions, following investigations by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the Gas Safe Register, indicate a toughening of attitudes towards rogue plumbers.
The most recent sentence, handed out last week, involved a Manchester gas worker who fitted central heating boilers at two houses in Greater Manchester without the required safety registration.
Christopher Dignam, trading as Blue Flame Plumbing and Heating Services, had never been on the Gas Safe Register. Investigators found faults in one of the two boilers fitted by him in 2014, which could constitute a danger to life or property. Dignam’s advertisements in two local publications showed a Gas Safe Register logo and a registration number which did not belong to his business.
"In the wrong hands badly fitted and poorly serviced gas appliances are deadly. It is vital that people check their engineer’s Gas Safe ID card which will show what qualifications they have and which gas appliances they are competent to work on."
Phil Brewster, Gas Safe Register
HSE inspector Caroline Shorrock said: “Dignam showed a reckless and flagrant disregard for health and safety requirements. He knew he should be registered with Gas Safe and he exposed customers to a risk of serious injury or death.”
Dignam was sentenced to 12 months in custody, suspended for two years.
A fortnight ago, a gas fitter from Walsall, Alan Price, received a nine-month suspended prison sentence after he fitted a hob at a house in Tamworth when not on the Gas Safe Register.
In May, a Darlington plumber, Neil McKimm, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for carrying out illegal gas work on three occasions.
And last December, an illegal gas fitter from Manchester spent Christmas behind bars after he was given an immediate four-month custodial sentence for installing gas boilers at two domestic premises that were found to be “immediately dangerous” and “at risk”. Peter Janjic pleaded guilty to four charges relating to two gas installations.
Gas Safe Register maintains the register of businesses and operatives who are competent to undertake gas work. Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations, for a gas engineering business or operative to legally undertake gas work within the scope of the regulations, they must be on the Gas Safe Register.
Phil Brewster, head of investigations for Gas Safe Register, said: “In the right hands gas is safe, but in the wrong hands badly fitted and poorly serviced gas appliances are deadly. It is vital that people check their engineer’s Gas Safe ID card which will show what qualifications they have and which gas appliances they are competent to work on.”
