DODGY ROOFER FLEECED FAMILIES
Builder left customers £15,000 out of pocket
A builder from Sunderland who left a trail of dissatisfied homeowners has been prosecuted.
Gary Anthony Young, who traded as Marley Roofcare Ltd, left five customers more than £15,000 out of pocket and became the subject of an investigation by trading standards officers.
Young, who ran the business from Havelock Court, also placed misleading newspaper advertisements, claiming the business was part of an approved traders’ scheme when it was not.
He denied any wrongdoing, but failed to turn up at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court for his trial, which was heard in his absence.
The bench, led by chairman Jennifer Bell, returned guilty verdicts on all six counts.
Jim Wotherspoon, prosecuting, told the court one of Young’s victims was Sumi Begum, of Chatsworth Street, Barnes, Sunderland.
She asked Young to do roofing work on her house.
She said: “He said he was already working in the street, which would make the job a bit cheaper. The roof was leaking, and Mr Young said he would install a strip between my roof and the neighbour’s which would take the water to the ground.
“As the work progressed, he found more work which he said needed doing, and for which he took extra money. In the end, I lost track of how much money I paid him, but it was more than £6,000.”
The court heard Marley Roofcare’s newspaper advertisements carried the Checked and Vetted logo.
But Christine York, from the Checked and Vetted scheme, said she had never heard of either Young or Marley Roofcare.
At an earlier hearing, Young – as sole director of Marley Roofcare Ltd – denied six charges of engaging in an unfair commercial practice between January, 2015, and June of last year.
Young was written to and told the trial would proceed in his absence if he failed to attend court.
Magistrates, led by chairman Jennifer Bell, returned guilty verdicts on all six counts. Five of these were of knowingly or recklessly engaging in a commercial practice which contravened the requirements of professional diligence and which materially distorted the economic behaviour of the average consumer with regard to a product.
The sixth count was one of engaging in commercial practice containing false information likely to have caused the average consumer to take a transactional decision they would not have taken otherwise.
Mrs Bell said a letter would be sent to Young, telling him to attend court on March 29 for sentence.She added: “If he fails to attend, a warrant without bail will be issued for his arrest.”
The Echo has tried to contact Young for a comment.