An unregistered gas fitter has been sentenced for illegally carrying out gas safety work at a rented house.
Peter Knight, aged 67 undertook landlords’ gas safety checks at the house above a pub on Marlborough Street, Plymouth and extended a gas supply pipe to feed the pub’s kitchen despite him having no expertise in gaswork or being registered with Gas Safe Register.
Knight convinced the house’s landlords he was registered to do the work by using a properly registered gas engineer’s company name and Gas Safe Register registration number on the gas safety records he produced for them.
He was sentenced on 20 March 2017 after his illegal activities were investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) who were alerted to the work by Gas Safe Register.
Plymouth Crown Court heard Mr Knight’s illegal gaswork came to light when the tenant of the flat above the pub smelt gas in his flat and confronted Mr Knight about the work he had done. The tenant contacted Gas Safe Register because of his concerns about the workmanship.
Peter Knight of Cornwall Street, Plymouth pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years and to ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
HSE Inspector Simon Jones, speaking after the hearing, said: “Only engineers registered with Gas Safe can legally carry out gas work and it is fortunate no-one was harmed as a result of Mr Knight’s illegal gaswork.
“He compounded his illegal work by deceptively using false Gas Safe Register details on his paperwork and then lied to the landlords and tenant when he was challenged about this in a clear attempt to deceive them.”.
“The landlords relied on the honesty of Mr Knight but by deceiving them he put the lives of their tenants at risk for his own financial gain.”
Further information on domestic gas safety issues can be found on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/