Plumbers arrested

16 Aug 2011

FIVE plumbers have been arrested

FIVE plumbers have been arrested as part of HM Revenue & Customs crackdown on plumbers who are failing to pay their taxes.

HMRC announced that, alongside the five criminal investigations, around 600 plumbers are under investigation. Some of the plumbers under investigation owe up to £150,000, HMRC has confirmed.

More raids are taking place over the coming weeks in Kent, Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, Midlands and South Wales.

John Pointing, assistant director of HMRC criminal investigations, said this was the culmination of months of work by HMRC. "We provided a chance for those we have arrested, and the 600 we are investigating, to come forward voluntarily and put things right," he said. "These arrests send a clear message that HMRC will take action against those who choose not to come forward and pay the tax they owe."

Mike Wells, director of HMRC's risk and intelligence service, said: "These arrests are just the start. HMRC is considering hundreds of further cases for criminal investigation in the plumbing and medical professions. Some people may have thought we were bluffing when we said we have information that we will use to prosecute tax evasion."

Anti-blacklist campaigner Steve Acheson's Electrician

6 August 2011 – Steve Acheson’s told BBC

Steve Acheson has vowed to picket outside Fiddlers Ferry power station until he secures what he calls meaningful employment

"I had a choice - I could either sit in my front room growing old, wishing I had done something, or I could actually do something," electrician Steve Acheson said.
The 58-year-old has spent the past two-and-a-half years protesting outside Fiddlers Ferry power station in Cheshire.

It is the continuation of a battle against "blacklisting" in the construction industry - where firms allegedly compile files on workers that include notes of their trade union activities and can lead to them being refused work.

For all that time, he has been standing outside the giant plant - one of the North West's most well-known landmarks with its huge cooling towers looming over the outskirts of Warrington - accompanied by dozens of banners.

"By hook or by crook I will not move from here unless I get meaningful employment," he said quietly.

"I've not been out of work because I'm a bad electrician - but because I cared about health and safety and was an active union member."

A RETIRED Electrician Killed By Electricity

Published on Monday 1 August 2011 12:06

A RETIRED electrician for the Ministry of Defence died after being electrocuted in a tragic accident at his home.

Ian Sandy spent over 30 years working at Portsmouth Dockyard and had spent many years wiring warships for the Ministry of Defence.

The 62-year-old worked his way up to the respected position of higher professional technology officer, in charge of a team of electricians.

But his life was cruelly cut short after a freak accident occurred while rewiring some cables in the roof space of his home.

An inquest at Portsmouth Guildhall heard Mr Sandy and his son, also an electrician, were rewiring the loft. The pair were working with the power on, using electrical testing meters to establish the job of each cable.

The inquest heard Mr Sandy touched a live cable and became unconscious immediately after.

After switching the power off, his son desperately tried to revive his father using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but was unable to get a pulse.

Fire-fighters from Horndean station arrived and continued resuscitation until an ambulance crew came.

Mr Sandy was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, but was declared dead shortly after arrival.

His son, told the inquest: ‘We were rerouting a lighting circuit to another place.
‘We need to work live as electricians to establish which cable does what. There’s a lot of cables there.

‘He did exactly what you would have done.
‘I have had many shocks myself and I am sure my dad had had many shocks in the past. I know he had.

‘Unfortunately this time it went across the heart.’

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner David Horsley said: ‘He was beyond help from the moment this happened.

More than 1,000 addresses in a scam lasting for years.

12th October 2010 10:15 GMT;

A former EDF electricity engineer is believed to have illegally supplied power to more than 1,000 addresses in a scam lasting for years.

Derek Brown, who is 45, from Tottenham, London, was yesterday handed an eight-month suspended sentence and a total of 150 hours community service for criminal damage offences at Wood Green Crown Court.

Also seized by the police was £28,000 cash in a raid on his home. It will be taken into account in a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act later this month.
Derek Brown resigned from EDF Energy in 2002. He was arrested in July 2008 after police received a report of a man in a hole tampering with the electricity supply in a South Tottenham street.

When inspecting his van, police found  a "substantial amount" of EDF property including a uniform, and three ledgers detailing every address he illegally supplied electricity to since leaving the firm.

DC Kerry Burgess of Haringey CID said: "In many cases we believe that Brown was carrying out work for houses being converted into flats and splitting the connection from the mains in order to allow each property to have a separate supply.

"The landlords claimed that they weren't aware because the work had been arranged by contractors, who now have the inconvenience of having to arrange for the illegal services to be removed and new services to be properly and safely installed."
If you ever suspect someone is tampering with electricity supplies please report it. If this is done incorrectly, you could loss power on your entire street.

Also when the utility supply prices go up it has a lot to do with people who are by passing there meters and we incur their costs.