Gateshead Council has utilised a little-used piece of legislation to take enforcement action against two home improvement agencies.
The council has secured an Enforcement Order against Adam Crake, director of ASC Home Improvements Ltd and Aspire UK Home Improvements Ltd, after receiving hundreds of complaints from the public.
Customers reported receiving poor standards of workmanship, work left incomplete and being pressurised into entering a contract.
As a result, the council applied to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for permission to apply for an urgent Court Order against Adam Crake and Sarah Callaghan, previous director of ASC Home Improvements.
The Order prevents the defendants from breaching various pieces of legislation such as unfair trading practices, making false statements to consumers or failing to perform services with reasonable care and skill. If the Order is breached, the defendants will be in contempt of court.
Anneliese Hutchinson, the council’s service director for development, transport and public protection. ‘We have been almost overwhelmed with complaints about these two companies and it was clear that we needed to act as quickly to halt their unlawful practices.
‘We therefore took the unusual step of making the application without informing the defendants in a bid to speed up the process.’
