Contractor jailed.................

[Leesparkykent]

Rogue trader jailed after investigation - https://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/news/crime/rogue-trader-jailed-after-investigation-1-4782013/amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

[JK-Electrical]

If his works were safe and conformed to BS7671 i feel its a great shame that he felt the need to pretend to belong to scheme(scam). Just proves the lengths we have to go to in order to carry out the work we took 4 years learning. I hope it shows the stupidity of the scheme's and the unnecessary lengths we have to go to in order to earn some money.

An electrician operating anywhere in Scotland doesn't need to be a member of a scheme. Indeed, up here anyone can call themselves an electrician and carry-out electrical installation work. Alas, there are plenty of unqualified people who do just that. Some of the rogue domestic installations up here would make your hair stand on end if you were to ever see any of them.

SELECT have been trying for years to persuade the Scottish Government that Scottish electricians should have protection of title and be accorded professional status as are doctors, dentists, vets, lawyers and even estate agents. But no, Sturgeon and her motley crew just aren't interested.

Although I think sending a spark to jail for falsely representing himself as a member of SELECT and NICEIC as well as falsely claiming to be an approved certifier is a rather harsh sentence, I am, however, totally opposed to such deception. The spark who did this is essentially an unregistered electrician pretending to be a registered electrician. That's the top and bottom of it.

As a SELECT member myself, I feel it is grossly unfair that I have to compete against such charlatans when I pay my annual subscription and they dont. I'm all for competition, but only when the playing-field is level and we're all playing the game by the same rules. The unregistered electrician who falsely represents himself to be a registered electrician gains an unfair commercial advantage over honest competitors. Such sharp practices are commonplace in the greater Glasgow area, believe me.

Indeed, I've lost count of the number of EICR jobs that have been posted on My Builder wherein the poster has stipulated that the contractor must be a member of either SELECT or NICEIC only for the usual plethora of fresh-faced twentysomething electricians to nevertheless declare an interest in the job even though almost all of them don't have sufficient experience to be inspecting and testing electrical installations in the first place and while some of them don't even have a qualification in inspection and testing.

In my humble opinion, a radical overhaul of how electricians operate in the UK is long overdue. My own preference would be a nationwide scheme that requires each and every electrician to be registered. Only those who have undergone approved training and/or served a recognised apprenticeship, and who possess adequate, up to date qualifications would be accepted. Every electrician on the database would then be licensed along the same lines of the Australian model. I can think of no other way to end the farcial and sorry state of our industry.

 

[Octopus]

^^ exactly the same down here, scam membership, updates, exams, regs books, etc etc

But cowboys thrive ...

 

[LankyWill]

I think the cost is the main problem, seems like a free ride for the owners of these schemes. They are profiting off my hard work and skill all because some numpty thought the scheme would stop the cowboys, but then they have the cheek to allow domestic installers who are 5 week cowboys to join.

 

[Dillb]

An electrician operating anywhere in Scotland doesn't need to be a member of a scheme. Indeed, up here anyone can call themselves an electrician and carry-out electrical installation work. Alas, there are plenty of unqualified people who do just that. Some of the rogue domestic installations up here would make your hair stand on end if you were to ever see any of them.

SELECT have been trying for years to persuade the Scottish Government that Scottish electricians should have protection of title and be accorded professional status as are doctors, dentists, vets, lawyers and even estate agents. But no, Sturgeon and her motley crew just aren't interested.

Although I think sending a spark to jail for falsely representing himself as a member of SELECT and NICEIC as well as falsely claiming to be an approved certifier is a rather harsh sentence, I am, however, totally opposed to such deception. The spark who did this is essentially an unregistered electrician pretending to be a registered electrician. That's the top and bottom of it.

As a SELECT member myself, I feel it is grossly unfair that I have to compete against such charlatans when I pay my annual subscription and they dont. I'm all for competition, but only when the playing-field is level and we're all playing the game by the same rules. The unregistered electrician who falsely represents himself to be a registered electrician gains an unfair commercial advantage over honest competitors. Such sharp practices are commonplace in the greater Glasgow area, believe me.

Indeed, I've lost count of the number of EICR jobs that have been posted on My Builder wherein the poster has stipulated that the contractor must be a member of either SELECT or NICEIC only for the usual plethora of fresh-faced twentysomething electricians to nevertheless declare an interest in the job even though almost all of them don't have sufficient experience to be inspecting and testing electrical installations in the first place and while some of them don't even have a qualification in inspection and testing.

In my humble opinion, a radical overhaul of how electricians operate in the UK is long overdue. My own preference would be a nationwide scheme that requires each and every electrician to be registered. Only those who have undergone approved training and/or served a recognised apprenticeship, and who possess adequate, up to date qualifications would be accepted. Every electrician on the database would then be licensed along the same lines of the Australian model. I can think of no other way to end the farcial and sorry state of our industry.

Yet people still go with the scams given all the confussion with certain building regulations.

 

[johnduffell]

Shame they are not so diligent when it comes to vulnerable people being groomed.

"Morning sir, I'm from trading standards, I hear your barbers shop has been performing substandard haircuts and beard trims to the homeless and elderly, we all have a right to our own standard of personal grooming".... or have trading standards increased their remit now?

 

[ipf]

If his works were safe and conformed to BS7671 i feel its a great shame that he felt the need to pretend to belong to scheme(scam). Just proves the lengths we have to go to in order to carry out the work we took 4 years learning. I hope it shows the stupidity of the scheme's and the unnecessary lengths we have to go to in order to earn some money.

Something tells me that might be a big IF...…..!

….not to say I don't agree IF you're correct.

 

[ipf]

Something tells me that might be a big IF...…..!

deleted

 

[Squid]

Maybe he was was grassed up by other spruces as he was quoting a "reasonable" price for the job?

 

[MDJ]

This was a case of Fraud, conning the public and taking their money, 11 weeks is a good sentence, I hope he serves at least 8 of them.

 

[telectrix]

from to OP's link:

Trading Standards are reminding landlords and residents to adopt good practices when contracting for works to be carried out on homes: always carry out checks to ensure the tradesperson operates a legitimate business;
translates to " ensure the tradesman has completed a 5 week course and has paid his subs to niceic"

 

[MDJ]

An electrician operating anywhere in Scotland doesn't need to be a member of a scheme. Indeed, up here anyone can call themselves an electrician and carry-out electrical installation work.

.

Very True, you also get more money per head than any other UK person and get free hospital parking, we closed down our last ship yard to keep yours going and we allow Jimmy Cranky to dictate the odds, lets face it, you sweats have it all lol

 

[FatAlan]

Article doesn’t really give an idea of the guy’s actual level of competence / standard of work however it looks like he was operating a deception in respect of three schemes / services. Would be interesting to know whether he had been a genuine member of scheme previously and let membership lapse?

 

[JK-Electrical]

Very True, you also get more money per head than any other UK person and get free hospital parking, we closed down our last ship yard to keep yours going and we allow Jimmy Cranky to dictate the odds, lets face it, you sweats have it all lol

You forgot to mention that we also get free prescriptions.
As for Sturgeon, Like millions of other Scots and most of England, I cannot stand the wee commie cow. This hideous circus freak certainly doesn't speak for me.

However, of all the UK constituent countries, life expectancy at birth is lower in Scotland than anywhere else. I wonder why that is.

 

[telectrix]

You forgot to mention that we also get free prescriptions.
As for Sturgeon, Like millions of other Scots and most of England, I cannot stand the wee commie cow. This hideous circus freak certainly doesn't speak for me.

However, of all the UK constituent countries, life expectancy at birth is lower in Scotland than anywhere else. I wonder why that is.

is it because they are poisoned by sturgeon's rantings?

 

[JK-Electrical]

Would be interesting to know whether he had been a genuine member of scheme previously and let membership lapse?

You may well be right, but I feel that considering the sentence imposed, there is a higher probability that he had never been a SELECT member, an NICEIC approved contractor, or an SBS approved certifier in the first place. If so, he would have saved somewhere in the region of £2500 through not having to pay his initial application/membership fees and annual subscription to both organisations. He would also have avoided having to shell-out on doing the course that would have qualified him as an approved certifier and paying the annual fee required by the Scottish Government.

I'm not a gambling man, but if I had to wager, I would bet that the guy did what he did to gain an unfair trading advantage over honest competitors as an act of business survival. The domestic market in the central belt of Scotland is absolutely teeming with qualified electricians, under qualified electricians and people with no qualifications at all in electrical installation, all competing for the same jobs. Competition is cuthroat.

Indeed, I operate in Glasgow, but regularly lose jobs to muppets who are happy to travel from Edinburgh (100 miles round trip), Perth (120 miles round trip), Dundee (165 miles round trip) to install a couple of sockets. I'm not kidding. This is the harsh reality of domestic electrical contracting in Scotland.

Perhaps the incarcerated electrician also had to compete against the same twentysomething, 'still living with parents, I get all my work from My Builder muppets' that I do and became desperate for jobs. Desperate people tend to do desperate things. Unfortunately for him, he has made a big mistake and paid the penalty for his folly.

As for Trading Standards ..... just who are they protecting here, vulnerable customers, or the revenue streams of NICEIC, SELECT and the Scottish Government? The latter seems to be the case from my viewpoint.