New bulk buying site could help save money on home heating oil
A MAN who had received probation and community service after shouting abuse and making reference to Jimmy Savile during a school sports day has been given a suspended jail term for breaching the court order.
Gary Mairs previously admitted three charges arising out of an incident at St Louis Grammar School in Ballymena on June 1 last year.
He had claimed a drone being used to film the event made him feel paranoid at his adjacent home.
Mairs (41), of Carndale Meadows, Ballymena, had pleaded guilty to two charges of being disorderly — one at Carndale Meadows and the other at St Colmcille’s PS, which shares the site with St Louis — and also a charge of assault.
A prosecutor told a previous court hearing the case was “aggravated by hostility” and that Mairs shouted abuse at staff during a sports day including comments about “paedophiles”, “perverts” and “Jimmy Savile”.
He entered the school grounds and continued to be disorderly while shouting obscenities.
At court last year defence barrister Stephen Law said alcohol was a factor and the incident was “sparked by the flying of a drone” filming the sports day.
Last year at Ballymena Magistrates Court, District Judge Des Perry said Mairs’ behaviour was “appalling” and “disgraceful”.
At that court he imposed an eight-month jail term suspended for two years, put him on probation for a year and ordered 80 hours of community service.
On Thursday Mairs was back in the same court and pleaded guilty to breaching the court order from last September, which had required him to keep in touch with a probation officer.
On two dates last year and two this year he failed to contact probation authorities.
Meanwhile, Mairs has also been banned from the road for three years and fined £200 after he was caught driving with excess alcohol just yards from Ballymena PSNI station on July 7 this year.
He was also unlicensed and uninsured to drive.
At Thursday’s court Mr Law said his client had struggled with alcohol and because of that was unable to do his community service but had now “grasped the root of his offending”.
As he imposed a four-month jail term, suspended for three years, Deputy District Judge Peter Magill told Mairs: “Some people shouldn’t drink, some people cannot handle it.” HOME heating oil customers in Northern Ireland could reduce their bills by using a new online platform, it has been claimed.
Entrepreneur Barry Walls, who created PriceLayer.com, said the automated group buying site allows individual consumers to benefit from economies of scale derived from bulk buying.
It works by grouping individual orders together into batches of 10 to 20 so that oil can be purchased at a cheaper price from local suppliers, who save both time and money in the delivery process.
“According to government statistics, around 42% of households in Northern Ireland are in fuel poverty, which means they spend more than 10% of their household income on energy costs,” Mr Walls said.
“It’s important households reduce their energy expenditure, and Pricelayer.com will help them do so by offering the cheapest home heating oil prices in the market.
“It really is a simple concept.”
When a customer orders oil on PriceLayer.com, that order will be added to others in their area. Every oil supplier with a delivery depot within 20 miles will be invited to bid to supply the entire bulk order and the lowest priced supplier wins.
“The price consumers pay is based on the best bulk price for 9,000 to 11,000 litres, which we estimate will save them up to 15% on the standard retail price,” he said.
“With more than two-thirds of people in Northern Ireland currently using home heating oil, this is a significant innovation in how oil is purchased, with large savings to be enjoyed on an annual basis.”
Another way to make savings is the Housing Executive’s Oil Buying Clubs Scheme, which is managed by Bryson Energy and open to Housing Executive tenants, owner-occupiers, Housing Association tenants and private renters.
The scheme is free to join and members can save between £10 and £30 on their orders. The minimum order is 200 litres; this week it is approximately £70 to £75 through the oil club — to buy 200L elsewhere will cost around £95.
To help budget for oil, Bryson Energy encourages more people to join and keep their oil tanks topped up over the summer months before oil prices hike in the colder months when demand is higher.
The scheme enables people to help budget for oil by buying smaller orders more frequently, thus allowing the local community to reduce their energy bills by collectively buying their oil.
Bryson Energy contacts members each month to see if they wish to place an oil order, participating oil suppliers are contacted and the best price is negotiated for the bulk order and members are then advised of price and estimated delivery dates.
Unlike other collective buying groups, Bryson Energy doesn’t add a profit margin onto the price per litre so the oil club members get the full savings.
Meanwhile, oil-fuelled households are now paying over 40% less than they did four years ago, according to the latest data.