Rogue trader fined £4,000 for building scam

A court heard Andrew Piner failed to provide a summerhouse and reneged on a promised refund

A businessman has been ordered to pay almost £4,000 after taking money for work he failed to carry out.

Andrew Keith Piner was paid £1,880 to provide a summerhouse and gate for a customer in Skipton, North Yorkshire, but never completed the task.

York Magistrates' Court heard he later agreed to provide a full refund, but did not return the money.

Piner, from Clitheroe, in Lancashire, pleaded guilty to an unfair trading offence and was ordered to pay a fine, costs and court surcharge totalling £3,885.

'Rogue trader'

Passing sentence, District Judge Adrian Lower, said: "It is not the first time that you have been in trouble with the Trading Standards.

"When people pay for work, people expect work to be done."

He added: "The reality of all of this frankly is if you don't amend your ways, and you keep promising the earth and don't deliver, then you will become known as a rogue trader, and nobody will want to employ you."

North Yorkshire Council's executive member for trading standards, Greg White, said Piner's actions had caused "a great deal of stress" to the customer.

"He left him out of pocket and having to instruct a solicitor at his own cost to make a claim in the county court," he said.

"It is completely unacceptable for a trader to act in this way, and I am pleased that the court has recognised that in sentencing Piner."

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