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Busted! - Secret Video Filming Lands Plumber In Court

A Poole based plumber was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £500 after he made false claims about the work he carried out which was being secretly filmed by Trading Standards Officers.

Barry O’Leary, trading as Plumbing & Household Maintenance, was found out when in August 2004 he answered a callout to fix an overflowing tank in the loft of house in Poole.  Prior to his arrival an obstruction had been placed in the tank causing it to overflow and the house had been fitted with concealed cameras. Trading Standards Officers and an independent expert watched and recorded O’Leary’s every move as he entered the loft.

Shaun Robson, Head of Poole’s Environmental and Consumer Protection Services, Borough of Poole, said: “O’Leary found the problem with the tank almost immediately but instead of explaining to the officer posing as a ‘householder’ on the day that he had fixed it, he went on to spend time checking, rechecking and then replacing a ball valve assembly that had just been examined by our expert and was in perfectly servicable order.

“This was a very simple job to rectify; he did not require any new parts and could have completed it in a few minutes but O’Leary spent over half an hour at the house, charged us for unneccessary parts and also contaminated the cold water storage tank by decanting water into it from the central heating sytem.”

The case is the latest in a number of prosecutions arising from a joint exercise in which trading standards officers from the Borough of Poole, Bournemouth Borough Council and Dorset County Council set up their own house and invited local tradesmen to carry out work as ‘test purchases’.

Cllr Don Collier, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Borough of Poole, said: “Although the prosecution related to using parts that were not needed I certainly wouldn’t want to drink or even clean my teeth in water that had previously been pumped through a radiator!

“Working with our colleagues in neighbouring authorities we have exposed a worrying number of unfair and improper trading practices in the local service sector. Whilst most traders are honest and hardworking this sort of operation is something we will continue in the future and the best advice I can give to traders carrying out repairs in the home is to treat every job like it’s being videoed.”

O’Leary was found guilty of one offence under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 for falsely representing that a ball valve assembly needed replacing. He received a conditional discharge and was ordered to pay costs and compensation of £500.

Shaun Robson, Head of Environmental & Consumer Protection, Borough of Poole tel: 01202 261736