Rogue trader handed suspended jail sentence

A tarmac layer from Penarth has been given a suspended jail sentence following an investigation by council Trading Standards Officers into poor workmanship and rogue trader activities.

Swansea Crown Court heard that that in July 2022, Neath Port Talbot residents received flyers advertising free quotations and ‘no upfront payments’ from tarmac drive specialists Jonathan Lewis Trading.

One customer agreed to pay £3,000 to have a driveway laid with tarmac. The work was completed quickly, and the trader was paid in cash. Soon after, the customer noticed the quality of the work was poor and that the tarmac began to flake and chip and had started to spread into a public pathway.

A second customer contacted Jonathan Lewis Trading after receiving a flyer and requested a diamond pattern in the centre of a driveway, along with other works. The complainant was quoted £8,000 if the work was carried out before January, otherwise it would have cost “£12,000 due to the cost of materials and staff”. The complainant went ahead to save £4,000.

The work, which was paid for via bank transfer, was poor. The diamond was off-centre, paviours between the pavement and hardstanding were misaligned and there were ‘distorted gaps’. Also, the work was never completed.

Neither of the customers were given the required 14 days cancellation rights and despite what it said on the flyer, both were asked for payments upfront.

Upon further investigation the court heard, Neath Port Talbot Trading Standards officers also found that the real name of Jonathan Lewis of Jonathan Lewis Trading was John William Price.

Quantity surveyor

After receiving complaints about Mr Price’s work trading standards officers commissioned a quantity surveyor to inspect the work.

The surveyor found the work on one of the complainant’s driveways was poor, unfinished and unaligned and that the complainant had been overcharged adding that the work should have been costed at £600-£700 instead of £3,000. The surveyor added the other driveway was also severely overpriced at £8,000, with the materials being used only costing between £1,500 and £1,800.

The court heard both driveways later needed to be completely cleared and re-laid at a cost of £2,000 and £3,000 respectively.

During an investigation into two illegal deposits of waste in Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Waste Enforcement section established that the waste had been removed by Jonathan Price after delivering flyers at the properties. Price attended a formal interview conducted jointly by Trading Standards and Waste Enforcement, where he answered the questions with a no comment answer.

In court, Mr Price pleaded guilty to offences under the Fraud Act 2006 for making false representations that the prices quoted represented fair payments for the works carried out.  He also confirmed he had removed the waste, but said an unnamed employee illegally deposited the waste.

However, he entered guilty pleas to two offences under s33(5) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, in that he knowingly caused the waste to be deposited, whether or not he gave any instructions for this to be done.

Fraud offences

At the sentencing hearing, Price, 45, of Cowslip Drive, Penarth was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years for fraud offences relating to the tarmac laying incidents and three months imprisonment suspended for two years for Environmental Protection Act offences relating to the illegal deposit of waste. The sentences are to run concurrently.

He was also ordered to complete 250 hours unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity. He was ordered to pay compensation of £3,000 and £8,000 to the two complainants.

Councillor Cen Phillips, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards and Public Protection, said: “Residents must remain vigilant to avoid becoming a victim of a rogue trader. It’s pleasing to see our Trading Standards officers and Waste Enforcement team have worked together to bring about this prosecution.”