Just came this very interesting recent ruling where an installer has been done for fraud and I wonder if this can set the legal precedent to scare some installers in doing a better job installing and then maintaining systems.
The Court found that Adrian Miles, trading as Duchy Eco Heating, was recommending heat pumps that were insufficient for the customer’s needs and supplied systems that were installed incorrectly, and which then exposed the customer to further losses in order to rectify the issues. There’s a fair few posts on this forum discussing these very issues.
From further reading, it appears that the legal action was initiated by REFCOM (the guys behind F-gas regulations) with Public Protection at Cornwall Council because Adrian Miles hadn’t done his F-gas and was “endangering the public, it put REFCOM members at a commercial disadvantage because unregistered firms like this one get away with not investing in technical and safety training or the systems needed to manage refrigerant gas safely and responsibly.”
So REFCOM went after Adrian because he wasn’t a member, not so much about the fact that he bodged heat pump installations. Nevertheless, precedent is precedent and I wonder what this’ll do to encourage homeowners to take legal action on a civil rather criminal basis.
Duchy Eco's Instagram site is still 'live'. Here's one of the photos showing an installation:
Anyone care to comment on
airflow in/out of the heat exchanger?
safety at work practices whilst working at height?
For those who don't know, the term Duchy is common in Cornwall. It's a reference to that portion of the land which is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, currently Prince William. The term isn't 'protected', and doesn't imply any connection to the Duke's assets in the region.
Duchy Eco's Instagram site is still 'live'. Here's one of the photos showing an installation:
Anyone care to comment on
airflow in/out of the heat exchanger?
safety at work practices whilst working at height?
For those who don't know, the term Duchy is common in Cornwall. It's a reference to that portion of the land which is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, currently Prince William. The term isn't 'protected', and doesn't imply any connection to the Duke's assets in the region.
He obviously failed to tie a 'safety' rope around his neck. 😋
Yippee, I've now hit 2000 and we are well on the way back towards Summer
As a fellow West Country resident, I feel I should apologise for the poor quality of our rogue tradesmen. Whilst there are few of them, this particular one successfully posted a photo of himself filling an ASHP with the refrigeration gas for which he didn't have a licence:
He's also provided an excellent mug-shot, showing the expression he wears when challenged by Trading Standards:
I suppose it's too much to ask for the Probation Service to allocate his 200 hours community service towards fitting additional insulation in the properties he supplied with under-sized heat-pumps?!
