A ROGUE trader who charged a property owner £27,500 for unnecessary work has been hit with a court bill of almost £40,000.

Mervyn Rhys Richards, who had previously pleaded guilty in September to the offence, was sentenced when he appeared at Taunton Magistrates' Court on Monday (November 6).

The court was told that Richards, 43, of Bourne Road, Swindon, carried out the work on a property in Watchet between March 11 and April 1 last year.

During that period the work he carried out that was not needed included:

  • supplying a new roof;
  • supplying and fitting a dry verge all around the property;
  • re-felting all around the property;
  • installing eave trays all around;
  • servicing gutters, fascias and soffits.

The £27,500 he charged was "not necessary, over-priced and not compliant with British Standards".

He admitted "knowingly or recklessly engaging in a commercial practice which contravened the requirements of professional diligence".

The magistrates heard that in so doing he had breached the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 "which materially distorted or was likely to materially distort the economic behaviour of the average consumer with regard to a product".

Richards was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay his victim £27,500 compensation.

He also faces a bill of £4,250 towards prosecution costs following the case brought by Devon County Council and a £190 victim surcharge.

Richards was told he must pay the total court bill of £38,440 at a rate of £5,000 a month staring on December 4.