Jail for builder who flipped over old tiles on ‘ new’ roof
A ROGUE trader charged a couple £ 8,000 for a new roof only to turn the existing tiles upside down, a court heard.
Simon Fielding, 56, was jailed for two years and three months after admitting charges of fraud at Preston Crown Court.
Fielding, who operated Ribble Valley Roofing, in Lancashire, then intimidated the couple into paying for work he never finished.
The court heard when a building surveyor inspected the roof he found the tiles had been turned upside down to look new and the cause of an original leak had not been repaired.
The roofer, who had been exposed on BBC One’s Rogue Traders and had convictions for 26 previous offences, began the work just months after been given a suspended sentence at Burnley Crown Court for breaching the Consumer Protection Act.
Mother- of- two Sara Cole
had called him to fix her leaking roof in Wiswell, near Burnley.
The work was completed on May 12, 2014, but a few weeks later the leak reappeared. When the Coles called the company to come back she was told the whole roof needed replacing, costing £ 15,000.
Following a series of phone calls the cost was initially reduced to £ 12,000, but a price of £ 6,500 was eventually agreed with the use of reclaimed tiles and existing tiles.
The court heard that Fielding demanded half of the money up front and the rest on completion.
But he rang Mrs Cole on two occasions to demand extra payments. Before he finished the job, Fielding said the price had risen and that they now owed him a further £ 3,600.
The Coles reported Fielding to Lancashire Trading Standards, who brought the prosecution.