Landlords duped by fake gas engineer
News Category: Legal
Published: 26-Apr-2010
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A man has been fined £750 after he conned landlords into believing he was a registered and certified engineer.
Geoffrey Hewitt, a plumber from Bacup, posed as Jordan Rogers of Gas Heating Services and issued gas safety certificates illegally.
Mr Hewitt was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive as a result and inspector Dorothy Shaw said he had managed to dupe landlords into giving him money.
She said: "Geoffrey Hewitt put lives in danger by issuing fake Landlords' Gas Safety Certificates, despite not being qualified to know whether the gas fittings in the houses he visited were dangerous or not."
Ms Shaw added that landlords must check the engineers' ID in order to ensure they are fully certified and on the Gas Safe Register.
As well as ensuring all gas appliances in their properties are checked by a certified engineer at least once a year, landlords are recommended to provide carbon monoxide alarms in the homes they rent out.
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