Gas regs and responsibility

[DrPhill]

The chap failed to call back as promised, so I will try contacting some official bodies today. I thought it fair to try a soft approach first, but suspected an attempted run-around.

I agree about the CO monitor - we have one downstairs for the wood burner.

I will report back on future developments in case my experiences help others.

Phill

 

[heimlaga]

You might like to post over in AskTheTrades as the guys there are very helpful.

Excellent idea.... I have never been to that site. I will look at it tomorrow.

One question which I may have missed the answer to....the guy who's name is on the bottom of the piece of paper signing it off...can he not come and service it for you? And move the flue at the same time?

That would be my favoured solution. However the chap who signed it of (the 'competent person') was a subcontractor for a local firm. The owner of the local firm says that the installer was not on an official job, but was allowed to cite the local firm as the installing firm. So the owner says 'not my problem'.

The owner is going to phone back after checking 'to see if there is a safety certificate'. Whether this means more than buying time to work out how he can slope shoulders remains to be seen. I am hoping that he will decide that it is better to take a small financial hit in order to maintain a squeaky clean reputation (it is a small town). If not I may enquire on AskTheTrade, or even at the local Trading Standards Office.

I am irritated by two things:
- Someone was taking advantage of the elderly previous owners to do a shoddy job and get away with it.
- If a business can just say 'it was not an official job so we are not responsible' how can we trust any of these certificates and their schemes? How can I tell from looking at the certificate whether or not it is an official job?

OK, three things:
- Why should I have to shell out for someone else doing a bodge?

Phill

This a very common strategy in the construction field. The main contractor uses a subcontractor who uses a subcontractor who uses a subcontractor who farms it out to a Bulgarian who does a botched job and hardly gets paid for it and does not pay any tax.
When someone starts to complain the contractor blames the subcontractor who blames his subcontractor who blames his subcontractor who says that "unfortunately the Bulgarian went home when we did not pay him enough and we do not know his name". To make matters even worse many contractors tend to go bankrupt every 10 years and start anew just to make sure that they get rid of all responsiblities.
This is how an entire branch works all over Europe. It is a way of avoiding their legal responsibilities and earning more money. Everybody who works in construction knows how this sceme works.

I do not know British legislation but I am fairly sure that the company who has their name on the paper is legally responsible. This means that having farmed out the job just entitles the contractor to recover their costs from the subcontractor. If they farmed it out to someone who wasn't officially employed by them when doing the job they will likely be liable to pay insurances and tax anyway. You should tell the police and hope that the government want their money (which they don't usually want).

This kind of claims usually end as endless court squabbles. Making everything complicated and telling different stories every time is an integral part of this sceme. You aren't very likely to ever get any money from them but you could make their lives a bit less comfortable for a while.

 

[DrPhill]

Thankyou (I think!) For confirming my cynical opinion.

I do not think that the strategy you describe is limited to the small traders, though. I phoned GasSafe and the lady listened very politely. The relief in her voice was palpable when she realised the work was done under the CORGI scheme. 'We have been told not to pursue any cases that old' was her response. The interesting phrasing caught my attention. Who told who? Did GasSafe tell its employees? Or did the industry tell GasSafe?

Maybe there is a new moto for our time 'change the sheme, wipe the slate clean'.

Phill