North Yorkshire Building Owner Fined Over Unsafe Fire Doors
The director of a construction company has been penalised with a fine exceeding £6,000 for the improper installation of fire doors in a property located in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire Council's Trading Standards Services received a complaint from the property owners in Sherburn-in-Elmet after they discovered that a set of fire doors, supplied and installed by Aztech Building and Maintenance Limited, did not meet Building Regulations.
As reported by The York Press, Aztech Building and Maintenance Limited had been contracted in 2021 to conduct a loft conversion at the property, which included the installation of six fire doors. Concerns arose when cracks appeared at the bottom of some of these doors. An inspection carried out by Building Control revealed that extra strips of wood had been affixed to the base of standard fire doors, rendering them non-compliant with regulations. As reported in the Harrogate Advertiser, these additions did not match the original door's construction, and their effectiveness as fire doors had not been verified.
Appearing before the York Magistrates Court on August 4, 2023, Ross Stephen Trutch, a director of the company, admitted to an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Although the court acknowledged that delays in the construction product supply chain resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the non-compliance of the fire doors, it determined that Trutch had "cut corners" and left the property in an "unacceptable condition."
In addition to a £1,000 fine, Trutch was instructed to compensate the homeowners with £4,416, cover costs amounting to £813, and pay a victim surcharge.
The Executive Member for Managing our Environment at North Yorkshire Council, Greg White, said: “Fire doors slow the spread of fire through a property and give people in the building longer to get out safely.
“It is of great concern that a builder could act without the professional diligence that would be expected of him, leaving the householders who had relied on his expertise with a substandard product and a potentially unsafe house.
“I am pleased that the court acknowledged the impact of this and awarded compensation to meet the cost of remedial work.”