Following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), an unregistered gas fitter has been fined for illegal gas work that potentially endangered lives at a home in Staffordshire.

Self-employed trader Andrew Houghton of Morden in Surrey installed a boiler at a home in Alrewas, near Burton-on-Trent, between 15 and 21 August 2013 but was not Gas Safe registered.

On 7 January, Stafford Magistrates’ Court heard that a subsequent inspection of the boiler by Gas Safe experts found a number of faults with the installation, including inadequate flues, an absence of a thermostat and a wrongly positioned condenser drain. The boiler was classified as ‘immediately dangerous’.

Mr Houghton’s illegal handiwork was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which found that he was not a registered Gas Safe engineer and should not have carried out any work on gas fittings.

He pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and was fined £2,800 and ordered to pay costs of £868.