A rogue gardener who failed to complete work and left consumers out of pocket is now behind bars after pleading guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month.

In a case brought to court by Dudley Council’s trading standards following an investigation, Kevin Baggott from Newbury Lane, Oldbury pleaded guilty to a number of breaches under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

The Court heard that in April 2018 Baggott had taken on a landscaping job for a Dudley resident, the full cost of the job was £6,100 and he had taken the full amount in cash up front. 

He then failed to start the job on the agreed date and when he did start his work was of poor quality. He left the job incomplete and the consumer did not receive all of the materials for the job. 

As part of the investigation three similar complaints came to light. All of the complainants were left with poor quality and incomplete jobs and had to pay other tradesmen substantial sums to put right the defects and complete the work.

In sentencing Baggott to 48 weeks imprisonment on May 19, HH J Campbell said that she had no doubt the complainants wished they have never met him, he was dishonest, either did not do the work or when work was done it was beyond shoddy, appalling and on occasion dangerous.  He had either not provided materials or had removed them from site. Councillor Nicolas Barlow, cabinet member responsible for Dudley Trading Standards, said:

"Baggot clearly thought he could get away with taking people’s cash without carrying out the work fully or to a decent standard with little regard for the impact on his customers.

"He is a rogue trader through and through and I am glad our trading standards officers were able to investigate and take this case to court. Let this be a warning to other rogue traders out there, we take these matters seriously and will pursue them to get justice for our residents."