Plumber Jailed After Trading Standards Investigation

A plumber has received an eight month sentence following an investigation into his business by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Trading Standards and National Trading Standards’ Tri Region Investigation Team.

Jasdeep Singh Randhawa traded under multiple names including Direct Maintenance Group Limited, Cover Sure Maintenance Limited and Cambridge Plumbing. He directed a network of plumbers across the UK and complaints centred on poor workmanship and being overcharged for work. When customers called the plumbers back to put things right, the business would charge them a second time, and when consumers challenged the bill Randhawa would become verbally aggressive over the phone.

On Friday, 10 December 2021 at Peterborough Crown Court, Randhawa pleaded guilty to two charges of engaging in commercial practices that contravened the requirements of professional diligence contrary to regulations 8 and 15 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Randhawa was sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

Councillor Tom Sanderson, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Communities, Social Mobility and Inclusion Committee, said: “This sentence sends a clear message that criminal trading practices won’t be tolerated in Cambridgeshire.

“We are lucky enough to have a wealth of honest, hard-working tradespeople in our county and such enforcement work is vital to ensure the rogues don’t take work away from these tradespeople, and longer term that they don’t damage the confidence people have in these vital trades.”