The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a landlord from Cornwall who risked lives by carrying out work on a domestic gas boiler, despite being unqualified to do so.
Shaun Johnson from Liskeard removed an old gas boiler and replaced it with a new one but used the existing flue. This caused an immediate risk of explosion or of poisonous carbon monoxide gas escaping into the house if the boiler had been used.
On 8 October, Truro Magistrates' Court heard that Mr Johnson carried out the work on a home he owned in Liskeard in May this year, while his mother, who lives at the property, was away.
Mr Johnson asked a Gas Safe registered engineer to look at the work, but when the engineer saw the connection to the flue, it was classified as 'immediately dangerous' and the HSE was contacted.
HSE found that Mr Johnson was not a Gas Safe registered engineer and therefore was neither qualified nor legally entitled to work on gas.
He pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £288.
