An unregistered plumber and a company have been prosecuted after unsafe gas work was carried out at various properties in North London.

Errol Dillon of Grenville Gardens, Woodford Green, Essex pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was sentenced at an earlier hearing to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 50 hours unpaid work requirement and £2,000 in costs.

Whirlpool UK Appliances Limited of Morley Way, Peterborough, PE2 9JB pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It was fined £90,000 with more than £9,358 in costs.

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Westminster Magistrates' Court heard how Mr Dillon carried out gas work at more than 1,000 addresses in North London over a two-year period while not being Gas Safe Registered. He had previously worked for Whirlpool UK, but had left the company. When he re-joined Whirlpool, he was unregistered and continued to work on appliances.

A joint investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) alongside Gas Safe Register (GSR) discovered Mr Dillon had provided Whirlpool with false GSR registration number, and Whirlpool failed to check Mr Dillon's credentials with GSR.

HSE inspector James Caren said: "Whirlpool failed to check the Gas Safe Register credentials of Mr Dillon and as a result allowed him to conduct unregistered work on more than 1,000 homes across London.

"Mr Dillon should have taken into account that being Gas Safe Registered is not an option when carrying out gas work; it is mandatory."

(LM)