A company that constructs extensions to houses has been fined after incorrectly working on gas flue, potentially putting lives at risk as harmful could have seeped back into the house.

Southwark Crown Court heard how, between June 2013 and June 2014, Wedgewood Design and Build Limited of London, was building an extension across the full width of a house at a property at Greenside Road, West London. The extension work required the gas flue to be repositioned. This involved extending an existing gas flue which was boxed into a void, meaning there was no way of examining the flue. Also, an incorrect type of pipe was used for the flue.

Wedgewood Design and Build Limited, of Ballards Lane, London was fined a total of £9,000, and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs after pleading guilty to an offence under Regulation 8 (3) of the Gas Safety(Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

For more information about gas safety log onto the website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/