Two brothers, Lee and Scott Butterworth, have received 10 week prison sentences, suspended for 2 years, ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work and ordered to pay costs of £496.60 each after they both pleaded guilty to breaching the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations SI 1998/2451.
Lee Butterworth, trading as English Riviera Building Company Ltd, was carrying out works on a house in Plymouth, which included installing a new gas boiler. Lee Butterworth then contracted his brother, Scott, to install the gas boiler and pipework even though he was not a member of the Gas Safe Register.
After the boiler had been fitted, the owner of the house asked a registered member of the Gas Safety Register to fit a gas cooker. The gas engineer then found a gas leak in the pipework fitted by Scott Butterworth and believed there was a real risk of a gas explosion.
Speaking after the hearing at Torquay Magistrates court, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Simon Jones said: "Scott Butterworth was not competent or registered to work on gas appliances and this was clearly shown when his work left a gas installation which had a gas leak. It is extremely fortunate that there was not a gas explosion as a result of Scott Butterworth's work."
"Lee Butterworth was in charge of this work and he should have ensured that anyone undertaking gaswork on his job was properly registered with Gas Safe Register. A simple check on the Gas Safe Register website would have alerted him to the fact that his brother was not registered to do gaswork but Lee Butterworth did not do this simple check but allowed his brother to undertake illegal gaswork."
Mr Jones added: "The poor standard of work in this case could have had tragic consequences for the homeowners."
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