Roofing Work News Roundup – August, 2018
Here at D-marc we’re in the business of making work at height, namely roofing work, safer with our innovative rooftop barrier solutions. As such, we keep a close eye on the news for stories about roof work and working at height in general so that we can provide our readers with useful and relevant information that will keep them up to date with what’s going on in our industry. Once a month, we’ll publish a roundup of the news that affects our sector in one easy place so that readers can get a quick overview of the most important happenings over the past month. If you have anything to add or know of any stories that you’d like us to cover, please don’t hesitate to let us know, either by email, on our Facebook Page or on our Twitter feed.
Our first story concerns a specialist roofing company based in our home city of Sheffield, so we’re proud to be blowing the trumpet for a successful local business. Sheffield-based Martin-Brooks relied on their excellent heritage skills to carry out a full reroof of a former smithy at Magpie Mine near Bakewell, the UK’s best example of a lead mine which is part of a Historic England Scheduled Ancient Monument. Open access was maintained during the work which used like for like materials to ensure the appearance of the building remained unaltered. Heritage skills of this type in the construction industry are at risk nowadays as more modern building techniques and materials are adopted, which means that anybody with heritage construction skills is likely to have no shortage of work in the future. We’ll be bringing you more information on heritage skills over the coming months.
Our next item is the sorry case of a rogue roofer who tricked residents in Leyland (including an 88 year old widow recovering from cancer) into having unnecessary roofing work done. The work was substandard and overpriced, sometimes by thousands of pounds for what amounted to “minor repairs”. When the law caught up with Steven Lee (who traded as Trade Mark Roofing Specialists), he was given a 40 month jail term (the longest ever secured by Lancashire Trading Standards) and ordered to pay a £9,900 compensation order. With limited assets, Lee now faces having to sell his work van and two caravans in order to pay the confiscation order.
In a case that we should all learn a lesson from, a roofing contractor has been fined £300 after Waltham Forest Council workers found a bag of rubbish in his work van! Stewart Gosling was pulled over by council workers conducting a spot check who found a plastic commercial waste bag in the back of his van. The van was filled with water bottles, crisp packets and sandwich wrappers from his lunches. Despite appealing the fine, Gosling has been warned that he will be taken to court if the roadside penalty is not settled. The workers who stopped Mr. Gosling asked if he had a waste carriers’ licence for commercial refuse – because the waste from his lunches were being stored in a commercial waste bag, a valid waste carriers’ licence is necessary to avoid legal repercussions! We strongly advise anybody collecting their snack packets in their vehicles in order to dispose of them properly (rather than fly-tipping or littering) to make sure they have a few carrier bags handy for the rubbish in future.