Man jailed for illegal gas work

Published:  19 May, 2016

A Darlington man has been jailed for carrying out illegal gas work on three occasions.

Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard Neil Simon McKimm (trading as Macs Plumbing Services) carried out gas work including servicing boilers. Mr McKimm used the alias of a legitimate gas engineer to deceive his customers.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mr McKimm repeatedly falsely pretended to be a legitimate Gas Safe engineer and falsely signed official records in the name of a legitimate gas engineer.

Mr McKimm (trading as Macs Plumbing Services and alias as Robert Welsh), of West Moorland Street, Darlington, was found guilty of breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Regulations 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, and was sentenced to prison for 18 months.

HSE inspector Paul Wilson said: “Gas work must be carried out by properly registered Gas Safe engineers, and HSE will robustly pursue those that break the law.”

Image courtesy of Shutterstock/ Kirilllutz