March 27th, 2007
Don’t let this happen to you!
Is it really worth it?
Plumber fined after house explosion
A Wiltshire plumber who was fitting a boiler next door to a house which blew up in a huge gas explosion has been fined £1,300.
Harry Martin was not registered with Corgi and reused an old section of water pipe to carry gas, a judge was told.
But Andrew Langdon, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court that the 60-year-old was not being accused of causing the blast on Beechcroft Road in April 2004.
The Crown offered no evidence on a more serious charge against Martin and his colleague Richard Peters, who died last year.
The two men were removing an old boiler and water tank and fitting a new combination boiler at the house when the massive explosion took place.
Mr Langdon said Martin was acting as a self employed plumber and heating engineer despite not having the requisite accreditation and Peters as a sub contractor.
Neither man was registered with Corgi and they used a section of pipe under the floor in a bedroom which had previously been used for water to carry gas.
He said that both matters were offences under health and safety regulations carrying a maximum fine of £5,000 in the magistrates’ court.
Martin, formerly of Hyde Road, Upper Stratton, but now living in Northern France, admitted two counts of contravening health and safety regulations by not being Corgi registered and reusing an old pipe.
Peters, of Ruskin Avenue, Upper Stratton, who was 58 when he died last October, had already admitted not being Corgi registered.
Charles Parry, defending, said his client had not worked since the incident in April 2004 and now lived with his partner across the Channel.
He said that he was supported by her and had only savings and a small with profits policy with an insurer as income.
Although he accepted he was not Corgi registered he said his client never claimed to be and would tell people who asked that he was not.
He said he had forty years’ experience in the trade and was well respected by colleagues but his health had suffered since the incident.
— Gazette Reporter
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You get what you pay for!