Birmingham based plumbers who charged a Warwickshire resident over £5000 to unblock a toilet have been jailed. Sentencing took place at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday 4 August.
Two plumbers turned up at a rate of £672 per hour + VAT to unblock the toilet. They then returned the following day to do non-emergency work on a soil pipe at the property where an emergency rate was again charged.
The total cost for ‘unblocking’ the toilet came to £5642, of which £2474.70 was paid before Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards were alerted and intervened to stop any further payments. The plumbing firm advertised in the Yellow Pages as emergency local plumbers that offered OAP discounts.
Duane Linton, aged 34, of Wood Lane, Handsworth was company director of Plumb-Tech Plumbing and Heating Ltd, based in Great Barr, Birmingham, and Plumb-Tech Plumbing and Heating 1 Ltd, of Wood Lane, Handsworth. He pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation, and was jailed for two years and eight months.
Subcontractor Otis Wray, aged 44, of Birdbrook Road, Birmingham was jailed for nine months and ordered to pay £2000 costs and compensation to victims of £1,113. Peter Hawketts, aged 55, of Vardon Way, Kings Norton was jailed for 16 months and Patrick Thawe, aged 45, of Little Park, Quinton, Birmingham was sentenced to 20 months in jail.
The investigation revealed that once a call had been made, Linton sent out subcontracted plumbers from Birmingham. Victims were targeted between March 2014 and January 2016. The court also heard that claims in advertisements were untrue and basic parts were not carried by the plumbers, who subsequently took an inordinate amount of time to source them and charged that also at a premium rate.
Warwickshire County Councillor Philip Johnson, Chair of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, says: “Where possible, we would strongly urge residents needing to hire plumbers or other tradesmen to ask their friends, families or work colleagues for personal recommendations and always get at least three quotes.”
Paul Harmer, Technical Director of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE), comments:
“This is a shocking case. Unfortunately, this type of criminal behaviour damages the image of plumbers generally. Members of the public need to be able to trust the person they are inviting into their home to carry out work. CIPHE members abide by a Code of Professional Standards and this helps to assure their customers that they will receive a professional service.”
