A CONMAN who falsely claimed to be a registered gas engineer has been fined more than £1,000.

David Russell, 57, of Horley Road, Charlwood, Horley, was caught out by a customer after advertising his services in the Crawley News local newspaper.

The customer reported him to West Sussex Trading Standards after discovering he was not registered with Gas Safe, the official gas registration body, as required by law.

The council’s investigators confirmed Mr Russell was not and never had been registered.

They also found he had failed to carry out the necessary legal procedures with his work relating to contracts and offering a cooling-off period.

Mr Russell was convicted at Horsham magistrates’ court on August 1, of claiming to be Gas Safe-registered when he was not, and failing to provide the consumer with written notice of cancellation.

He was fined £410 and ordered to pay costs of £650 and a victim surcharge of £21.

Lionel Barnard, West Sussex County Council’s cabinet member for residents’ services, with responsibility for trading standards, deemed the case a “good result”.

He said: “Consumers need to be protected against rogue traders.

“It’s also only right and fair that businesses that operate within the law and comply with regulations are equally protected from that do not.

“This is another good result for the trading standards team and I want to thank officers for all their hard work in continuing to protect consumers and businesses in West Sussex.”