13 hours ago
Cowboy builder hit with £16k fine after taking money for work he never carried out
A cowboy builder has been slapped with more than £16,000 in court costs after misleading a couple over brick work to their property.
Thomas Hickin, aged 38, was approached by the Stourbridge to install brick slips to the front of their property in 2021.
Trading under Brickslip Brothers, he quoted them £4,250 for the work and took a deposit of £3,187.50 but provided no receipt.
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The work was due to start in June of that year but it was delayed until September as a result of delays related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hickin then made several delays due to personal circumstances and the couple eventually asked to cancel the work in December 2021.
But they were informed the contract could not be cancelled as the materials had already been cut to size.
However despite repeated attempts from the homeowners to get the work done, the service and materials were not provided.
The couple subsequently contacted Dudley Council's trading standards team in March 2022 when the work had still not stated.
Hickin advised that as trading standards were now involved, he would not carry out the work but would drop off the materials, which he never did.
Trading standards then visited Hickin's trading address and it was discovered he had not been based at the address since March 2021.
When the team contacted Hickin to ask where materials were stored, he said they were at his business address, but officers advised him they had visited that site and no materials were found.
Hickin continued not to cooperate with trading standards, other than arranging a delivery date for the materials, which were eventually delivered in October 2022.
However, he did not supply the correct number of brick slips and the ones that were delivered were of poor quality.
A Member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors was instructed to examine the materials delivered, who confirmed there were not enough brick slips and those supplied were not the correct size or quality.
The materials estimated value was believed to be around £615.
Appearing at Walsall Magistrates court on June 19, Hickin pleaded guilty to a single offence contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUT 2008).
The magistrates said before sentencing that they noted Hickin had delayed and mislead the homeowners, putting forward excuses that were not credible and that as work had not been carried out, it had caused a lot of stress and anxiety to the Stourbridge couple.
The court sentenced Hickin, of Long Itchington in Southam, to a fine of £1,350, compensation of £3,500 to the victims, a further compensation of £500 for stress and anxiety, a victim surcharge £540 and costs totalling £10,480.
This amounted to a total of £16,370.
Cllr Phil Atkins, cabinet member for development and regulation, said: "Our trading standards team works tirelessly to seek justice for our residents and this case is a reminder that we will not hesitate to act against rogue traders.
"It was clear that Mr Hickin had no intension of returning the deposit or delivering the correct materials but when our team got involved he supplied useless materials, so they investigated and carried out this successful prosecution."
