All respect to Carolyne for nailing doorstep pair
This week’s slot is dedicated to the memory of trading standards officer Carolyne Dollins, who died last month after taking ill-health retirement in 2016.
“A whirlwind of passion and tenacity for tackling doorstep crime,” was how a colleague described her.
One of the last cases Carolyne investigated has just ended in the jailing of two repugnant crooks.
The victims of Paul Towers and Robert Morrison included, a 94-year-old man whose sight was so bad he could not read his contract, and an 84-year-old woman suffering from dementia.
Towers and Morrison traded as Resinways The Driveways People in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and, you won’t be surprised to hear, refused to honour guarantees when customers complained about their shoddy work.
In 2014, Resinways achieved the dishonour of becoming the most complained about tarmacking and paving business in the country.
When trading standards officers searched its offices they found proof that the pair deliberately targeted those over 60, describing them with words such as “Alzheimer’s”, “blind” and “raver”. During a visit to one victim, Morrison sent a text to Towers in which he admitted, “I’ll feel tight” if he ripped her off, adding, “but I need the money”. Towers, 37, and Morrison, 35, were each sentenced to four years and three months jail after admitting unfair trading practices’ offences. They also failed to pay any tax on £2.5million income. Judge James Spencer QC, sitting at Leeds Crown Court, said he would not call them cowboy builders because “that would be an insult to cowboys”. After the case, David Lodge, Head of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: “This is the worst case that this service has come across in respect of aggressive and unfair trading practices against the elderly.” A great victory and fitting tribute to Carolyne’s public service.