TRADING STANDARDS: Garden clearance pair admit fraud and pressuring customers into paying up

Customers who hired two Merlins Bridge men for garden and ground clearance work were given false claims about how much needed doing, asked for money again and again, and pressured into agreements they were then discouraged from cancelling, according to Pembrokeshire County Council.

Two men from Merlins Bridge have now admitted fraud and consumer protection offences over it, and will learn their sentences next month.

Billy Lovell, 38, and Timothy Lovell, 36, both of Under The Hills, pleaded guilty at Swansea Crown Court on 18 September to seven offences between them.

The council, whose Trading Standards team brought the case, says the offences were committed across west Wales, including in Crymych, Milford Haven and Haverfordwest, and that the victims were vulnerable people left out of pocket and distressed.

When the pair first appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates in June they faced 26 charges between them, over alleged frauds totalling almost £80,000, the court heard. The alleged victims included a couple from Sardis, a woman from Mathry, and two men from Penygroes and Ty Croes in Carmarthenshire.

Both were bailed on condition they did no gardening or landscaping work. The council’s statement does not say what happened to the charges that were not admitted.

What Billy Lovell admitted: one fraud, three failures to tell customers their rights

Billy Lovell admitted one count of fraud. The council says it covered dishonestly making false representations for financial gain: false claims about the amount of work required, and repeatedly taking money for that work.

He also admitted three counts of misleading omissions under consumer protection law. In plain terms, the council says, he failed to give customers information they were legally entitled to, including their right to cancel, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

What Timothy Lovell admitted: pressure tactics that distorted customers’ decisions

Timothy Lovell pleaded guilty to two counts of aggressive commercial practices and one of an unfair commercial practice, under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.

The council says those offences included aggressive practices which distorted customers’ ability to make informed decisions, and a failure to meet the standards of professional diligence expected of traders.

‘Sustained pressure and manipulation’

Cllr Aaron Carey, the council’s cabinet member for public protection, said the case had vulnerable people at its heart who “suffered both financially and emotionally”. “Victims were subjected to sustained pressure and manipulation, leaving them distressed and facing significant financial losses,” he said.

The guilty pleas showed “the serious consequences that can follow when individuals seek to exploit members of our communities for financial gain”, he added, and should “serve as a warning to anyone considering similar conduct”.

Cllr Carey said the council would “pursue offenders robustly” where evidence of this type of offending exists. “We are committed to protecting residents from rogue traders and unfair trading practices, particularly those who target vulnerable people,” he said.

The two men will be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on 16 November.

The court has dealt with a run of Trading Standards prosecutions this year, including a Neath roofer jailed for 32 months in July after turning gutter cleans into around £40,000 of fraudulent roofing work.