Electrician fined for breach of Part P

An electrical contractor and its company director have been fined a total of £16 000 for offences under Part P of the Building Regulations. Newcastle-on-Tyne based Able Electrical and director John Waugh were fined by Newcastle magistrates court for breaching Part P on 23 different counts.

The charges related to rewiring work on a property which, according to the court, was so dangerous that it could have resulted in death or serious injury to the occupants or those testing the installation.

Waugh, an electrician with 28 years' experience, admitted multiple offences that included falsely claiming to be registered with the NICEIC; failing to notify the work to Building Control; installing cables under the landing floor in a poor manner; using old wires that are no longer covered by the Building Regulations; and not using residual circuit-breakers for sockets.

Newcastle Council Building Control brought charges against Able Electrical after the householder called in an NICEIC registered electrician to inspect the company's work. The inspecting engineer stated that the property would require a complete rewire and that tests on the existing installation could not be carried out due to safety reasons.

Expressing serious doubts about the company's professional capability, Jim Speirs, director general of the NICEIC, said: "It is unacceptable for an electrician with this level of experience to have carried out work to such a poor standard that lives are put at risk.

"A professional and competent electrician or installer would have no problem in becoming registered with a competent person scheme, and would therefore have no reason to falsify their professional status. The NICEIC takes misuse of its name and logo very seriously and we always prosecute any persons falsely claiming registration with our schemes.

"It is vital that anyone carrying out electrical installations are qualified to do so."