Traders fined for misuse of NICEIC logo

Two more traders have been fined and prosecuted for fraudulently claiming to be NICEIC registered.

Leicester based Deepak Virdi, who traded under the name of R.K Builders, was recently fined a total of GBP3,015 at Leicester Magistrates Court.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of unauthorised use of a trade logo.

Among them, two counts of using an NICEIC Approved contractor and NICEIC contractor logo.

Meanwhile, Paul Oldridge, of Veritas Support Services in Portsmouth, was fined a massive GBP14,800 at Southampton Magistrates Court for a range of offences relating to false advertising on his company website.

In all Oldridge pleaded guilty to 13 breaches of practice.

He was charged in his capacity as a Director of three companies whose websites displayed information relating to the misleading Trade Association claims.

NICEIC's Head of Customer Relations, Sandra Kerr, said: 'We take misuse of our logo very seriously and we welcome the latest prosecutions.

'The NICEIC name is associated with quality and we must protect those contractors who are legitimately registered with us and have the quality of their work assessed on a regular basis.

'We must also send out the message that anyone thinking about misusing our logo will be caught and dealt with appropriately by the courts'.

Last year NICEIC stepped up its fight against firms incorrectly using its logo by setting up a Wall of Shame.

Contractors caught falsely claiming to be members will be named and shamed on the NICEIC website and their details passed to Trading Standards.

Anyone who is suspicious of a contractor falsely claiming to be NICEIC registered should check the NICEIC website at www.niceic.com which contains a full list of all those approved contractors registered with NICEIC.

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