Two men have been fined and ordered to pay costs  after admitting installing unsafe and unregistered wood burning stoves and fraudulently charging for work that was not carried out.

Luke Watson of Barripper, Camborne and David Watson (unrelated) of Great Wheal Seton, Camborne have pleaded guilty to a total of four offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Fraud Act 2006 relating to the unsafe and unregistered installation of three wood burning stoves, and for fraudulently charging for work not undertaken between November 2011 and October 2012.

Luke Watson appeared at Truro Magistrates court on the 02 March 2015 and pleaded guilty to three charges, he was fined 3 x £550 and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and costs of £2,113.17.

David Watson appearing at the same time pleaded guilty to one charge, he was fined £400 and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and costs of £301.88.

Luke Watson, at the time of these installations trading as “County Stoves”, was registered with HETAS, the official government registered body in relation to solid fuel heating appliances.

Work was undertaken by the Watsons at properties in Goldstithney and Greenbottom, which was proved to be incomplete, potentially unsafe and not legally registered with the governing body of HETAS.

In addition to this, some work was fraudulently charged for when it was not completed. Following a complaint by a consumer, Trading Standards launched an investigation into the historical activities of County Stoves, which was no longer trading.

Anthea Durant from Trading Standards said: “We are very pleased with the result we have had at court and feel that the fines issued reflect the seriousness of the issues uncovered.

"Unfortunately, because Mr Watson failed to engage with our investigation at any stage, we are worried that there are other consumers who engaged County Stoves to undertake work at their home, and we would urge anyone who does remember employing them to check the registration status of their appliance with HETAS, to ensure that it was properly registered.”