North Somerset Courthouse

Jail for driveway repair man

Report by Alex Evans, Reporter Thursday, May 10, 2012
10:09 AM

A ROGUE trader who breached the law by carrying out work on an 81-year-old’s driveway has been sent to prison for nine weeks.

Patrick Hegarty, aged 41, pleaded guilty to three trading offences, as well as to handling stolen goods, theft, failure to surrender when bailed and several traffic offences.

Hegarty cold-called Ivan Armstrong, aged 81, of Manor Valley, Weston, on March 31, offering to pressure-wash his drive and carry out improvement works to it.

He failed to give a seven-day cancellation notice and began the work within seven days, a practice considered aggressive by Trading Standards.

He also failed to carry out work according to manufacturer’s guidelines.

Magistrates at North Somerset Courthouse imposed the prison sentence on Hegarty, of Manor House Street, Peterborough, at a hearing on May 3.