South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 04/09/2014

South Gloucestershire Council has prosecuted the directors of a building construction company for breaching building regulations.

Lee-Michael Fitzgerald and Stuart McIntosh, directors of Your Home Directory Limited, based in Liverpool Road, Birkdale, Southport, pleaded guilty to two offences relating to work that was carried out on a house in the Ridings area of Chipping Sodbury in 2013. The offences concerned unsafe electrical work and misleading activities of the contractor under the Consumer Protection for Unfair Trading Regulations.

The case was heard at Yate Magistrates’ Court, where the judge took a very serious view of the offences. He initially suggested imposing the maximum penalty available in the magistrates’ court which was a £5,000 fine for each offence, but gave credit for the early guilty plea of the defendants. This reduced the fine to £3,000 per offence, and they were also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £4,152.

Andy Clark, Building Control Manager, said: “I am delighted with the outcome of this court case. This result comes off the back of a lot of hard work by officers at South Gloucestershire Council to crack down on ‘cowboy builders’ who flout the regulations that are there to protect people in their homes. It also demonstrates the council’s commitment to deal with rogue traders who may be taking business away from genuine local traders.”

We have made three prosecutions in the last 18 months for breaches of building regulations.

The building control process exists to make sure that buildings are properly designed and constructed. This is to ensure the health, safety, welfare and convenience of people using them. For more info visit www.southglos.gov.uk/buildingcontrol

The case was heard on Thursday 28 August.