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S

Spazz

I priced up a CU change only 2 months ago from old BS3036 rewirable to a new 17th Ed board.
I quoted £250 (now £325)

He never came back to me - I had a call last night at 9pm - he came back from Tesco to find his electric cupboard in flames! I tolded him to pull the main fuse and get on the phone to 999 - I arrived to find Fire Brigade there putting the fire out.

When I went in with the fire inspector we found a new 17th ed board - B&Q £50 job.
No stickers, no nothing!

Asked the home owner who installed it? - no answer
Did you install it? - Yes

When we pulled what was left of the cover off - we found that the main L&N had fused together (dont know why the main fuse didn't break)

Fire Officer has now refured this to LABC.


I think he has learned not to do the job himself!

The scary thing is we also found out last night that he has also installed a few more CUs around the place for family members - GOOD LUCK
 
And...... LABC *might* decide to try to issue a fine, and his insurance company won't pay out. B&Q still have their £50, and nowt else will change.

Sadly.

Still, at least by the sounds of it you've picked up one hell of a call-out fee!
 
I was there for 4 hours in total - I got £100 for the callout - my rates are low but standard in this area.

I am doing the new install as well when the fire lot finish and the LABC finish as well.

The DNO are came out last night because the meter was in that cupboard and the whole place is full of foam now
 
I priced up a CU change only 2 months ago from old BS3036 rewirable to a new 17th Ed board.
I quoted £250 (now £325)

He never came back to me - I had a call last night at 9pm - he came back from Tesco to find his electric cupboard in flames! I tolded him to pull the main fuse and get on the phone to 999 - I arrived to find Fire Brigade there putting the fire out.

When I went in with the fire inspector we found a new 17th ed board - B&Q £50 job.
No stickers, no nothing!

Asked the home owner who installed it? - no answer
Did you install it? - Yes

When we pulled what was left of the cover off - we found that the main L&N had fused together (dont know why the main fuse didn't break)

Fire Officer has now refured this to LABC.


I think he has learned not to do the job himself!

The scary thing is we also found out last night that he has also installed a few more CUs around the place for family members - GOOD LUCK

Ouch! :hanged:
 
I say I made £100 from last night - I wish - because I am now signing on now - I only see £10 of that! but the new rewire will be nice as I will see a few hundred off it - wont get any benefit that week but I wont mind!
 
I bet the guys face was a picture when he had to admit to that. This is where a prosecution should actually happen. It will soon get around the area and make others sit up and listen! .....on second thoughts....!

EDIT: Of course, if this had happened 4-6 hours later than it did, we could be talking about a far more serious incident. He was lucky in that regard at the end of the day.
 
Why don't you tip off the local paper so they run a story - and hopefully they will, and more often than not the National Papers will run it too.
 
I was installing them for £250 - now dong them for £325.

I cant afford to run to the press because he has already asked me to install the new one, I will only cert what I did and will do an EICR on rest and send that to LABC as they want that done.

The CU is a state! He asked me this morning can I get some power on to supply the fridge and freezer - so I gave him a hand to pull the freeze into next door to power it.
 
Why don't you tip off the local paper so they run a story - and hopefully they will, and more often than not the National Papers will run it too.

Part P promotion! I love it, this really needs to be done and just think Nicholas every spark on the planet would want to buy you a beer for leaking the story.

Pleased to hear that nobody was hurt on this occasion. It could have been fatal!
 
I was installing them for £250 - now dong them for £325.

I cant afford to run to the press because he has already asked me to install the new one, I will only cert what I did and will do an EICR on rest and send that to LABC as they want that done.

The CU is a state! He asked me this morning can I get some power on to supply the fridge and freezer - so I gave him a hand to pull the freeze into next door to power it.

No offence Nicholas but it seems to me you are digging yourself a deeper hole you say the charge is £325 but how can that be when there is more work to do after the incident than before also helping him with a fridge freezer dont you mean charging him for the fridge freezer remember he knows he screwed up plus you are not a charity
 
Nicholas for all this clown knows it could be the DNO or a firefighter or a neighbour or someone out walking the dog who leaked the story to the press.
 
Taken from the Elecsa website

If a person or organisation carries out building work that is subsequently found to be non-compliant with the Building Regulations, the local authority or another authorised body may decide to pursue the issue through a magistrate’s court if necessary.

If a successful conviction results at court, the guilty party may be fined up to £5,000 for the contravention and up to £50 per day for each day the contravention continues after the conviction. Action may be taken against the contractor responsible for the work. However, proceedings must be taken within 6 months of the offence as per the Magistrate’s Court Act of 1980

Several?

[QUOTE]It is worth remembering, that such action has been taken in respect of electrical work in several instances, since the introduction of Approved Document P in 2005.[/QUOTE]
 
Interesting point there is "proceedings must take place within 6 months of the offence as per Magistrate's Court Act of 1980"
When does the offence occur? Is it the date of installation of the hooky CU or is it the discovery of the installation?
If it's the first, every clown and cowboy is in the clear....
"Mr Cowboy, I put it to you that you installed the consumer unit in a way that directly contravenes the builing regulations"
"Ah Mr Prosecuting Solicitor, I installed it more than six months ago so by law you can't do a thing. See you"
 
It says contractor responsible. If the guy did it in his own house its pretty much a victimless crime and I can't see any reason why he'd be prosecuted. Thats assuming the whole story isn't just a figament of Nics overactive imagination which I have a sneaking supsicion it might be.
 
He's his own victim when his insurers ask for test certs then refuse to pay out. Serves him right.
 
He's his own victim when his insurers ask for test certs then refuse to pay out. Serves him right.

Actually this is the best contribution so far as most insurers look for a way NOT to pay out so it could cost him much more than he thought he save in the first place. The report provided by the Fire Service WILL moire than likely, be the final nail in the coffin for his insurance claim.
 
I priced up a CU change only 2 months ago from old BS3036 rewirable to a new 17th Ed board.
I quoted £250 (now £325)

He never came back to me - I had a call last night at 9pm - he came back from Tesco to find his electric cupboard in flames! I tolded him to pull the main fuse and get on the phone to 999 You tolded him to walk into a burning cupboard?
- I arrived to find Fire Brigade there putting the fire out.
So your emergency response time is actually as quick as the fire brigade?


When I went in with the fire inspector we found a new 17th ed board - B&Q £50 job.
No stickers, no nothing!
The whole cupboard was on fire but you could tell there were no stickers on the fuseboard that started said fire?

Asked the home owner who installed it? - no answer
Did you install it? - Yes

When we pulled what was left of the cover off - we found that the main L&N had fused together So they must have been put in the same terminal which would have taken out the main fuse the second he put it in.(dont know why the main fuse didn't break) Good question....if the L&N were fused together you would have had thousands of amps flowing through a 100amp fuse

Fire Officer has now refured this to LABC.


I think he has learned not to do the job himself!

The scary thing is we also found out last night that he has also installed a few more CUs around the place for family members - GOOD LUCK So he'd already installed several C/U's in other peoples houses but rang an electrician for a quote when he wanted his own done?

Why were you there for four hours if the main fuse was removed, the whole C/U melted and the fire brigade were there?
What did you do during these 4 hours that justified £100?
As somone else has pointed out, why would he call the only person who knew he was having a CU change?
Since when have LABC been asking people to send them EICR's?


Personally I reckon you've made this story up.
If I am wrong, I apologise sincerely.
 
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