A BUILDER whose fire doors left householders with a “potentially unsafe” house has been convicted under a consumer protection law.

Ross Stephen Trutch must now pay £4,416 compensation to the Sherburn-in-Elmer householders who contracted his company Aztech Building and Maintenance Ltd to do a loft conversion for them.

A building inspector found that during the work Trutch had installed six standard fire doors, but had made additions that meant that they did not comply with building regulations.

Trutch had added pieces of wood to the bottom of the six fire doors. But the additions were not of the same construction as the original door and their effectiveness for use on a fire door had not been tested.

Trutch, 44, of High Street, Boston Spa, pleaded guilty to an offence under the unfair trading regulations. He is a director of Aztech Building and Maintenance Ltd of Bradford.

York magistrates fined him £1,000 and ordered him to pay compensation to the householders of £4,416, prosecution costs of £813 and a statutory surcharge.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for managing the environment, Cllr Greg White, whose portfolio includes trading standards, 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.”

North Yorkshire Council trading standards officers began an investigation after receiving a complaint from the Sherburn-in-Elmet couple. The work included supplying and fitting six fire doors, which had to comply with building regulations.

Shortly after fitting, cracks began to appear towards to bottom of some doors and the householders asked building control officers to inspect the work.

The magistrates accepted that there had continued to be supply chain delays for construction products after the Covid-19 pandemic, but told Trutch he had taken shortcuts and that the doors he had fitted had left the house in an unacceptable state.

The offence happened between March 2021 and September 2021.