A gas inspector has been jailed for 14 months after faking up to 200 safety checks commissioned by an agent.
Alexander Davies, 45, was paid to carry out inspections and issue gas safety certificates on rental properties for Welsh agents Dawsons.
However, the agent became suspicious when Davies submitted a certificate for one property after its gas supply had been cut off.
Other certificates did not tally with tenancy agreements.
Swansea Crown Court heard that Davies, who admitted fraud, would sit in his van rather than go into the properties and carry out inspections.
After the case, a spokesperson for Swansea Council’s Trading Standards department said: “This is an unusual case but we welcome the sentence of the court because a clear warning needs to go out that abuses of this kind cannot be tolerated because of the potential risk to innocent people.
“Safety is of paramount importance for householders and they need to be sure their gas appliances are regularly checked and serviced so they can be confident their homes and families are not at risk.
“It is clear that in this case that the trader was fraudulently issuing safety certificates, abusing the trust placed in him by the landlords and their agent and putting tenants at risk.”
I bet it wasn’t trading standards that discovered him.
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It seems from the article that the agent should be praised.
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This reminds one of the difference between a mortgage valuation and a structural survey – the speed at which you drive passed.
To be fair to this gentleman (long since dead) he would stop and look through his binoculars for signs of any external settlement.
He got caught out, which cost his PI dear, when a whole roof slide off one pre-war house six weeks later!
BTB
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