A plumber who overcharged elderly and vulnerable customers by up to 800% for simple jobs is behind bars following a prosecution by Sandwell Council’s Trading Standards team.

Steven Greenaway was (1 May) jailed for 16 months for ripping off six pensioners from Sandwell, Dudley and Worcestershire.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how Greenaway, aged 41 and from Marlpool Lane, Kidderminster, charged one elderly Cradley Heath woman £1,527 to repair a leak on her toilet and replace the cistern. The job should have cost around £200.

He also:

• Charged a Halesowen woman £800 to fix a leak – a job an expert said should have cost around £150.
• Charged a Dudley pensioner £500 to unblock her toilet, before telling her work also needed doing on a kitchen tap – for which he charged her a further £780.
• Charged a vulnerable mother and daughter £1,000 to repair a dripping tap at their Worcester home – a bill they paid with money they had saved for their holidays
• Charged a Worcester couple £1,200 to repair a leak on a radiator valve – leaving them feeling “like they had been mugged”.
• Charged another Worcester couple more than £800 for work to repair a stop tap that should have only cost around £120.

Greenaway advertised discounted rates for pensioners in adverts in the Yellow Pages.

Described in court as a “convicted confidence fraudster”, he had previously been convicted of charging a 78-year-old Oldbury man £2,200 for repairs to his bath, following a Sandwell Council Trading Standards case.

In the winter of 2010/11, Greenway once again came to the attention of Trading Standards in Dudley, Worcestershire and Sandwell following four complaints that he had been grossly over- charging for plumbing work.

Investigations showed that all of the victims were elderly and vulnerable, and had called him in an emergency to deal with water leaks.

Sandwell took the lead on the prosecution, assisted by Worcestershire and Dudley Councils.

Bob Charnley, Sandwell Council’s Trading Standards Manager, said: “Greenaway was a menace to vulnerable consumers throughout the West Midlands whilst doing plumbing work in their homes.

“What he did was disgraceful, and I want to congratulate our trading standards team, and the teams at Dudley and Worcestershire councils, for putting him behind bars where he belongs.

“This prosecution demonstrates the benefits of Trading Standards teams sharing intelligence and working in partnership on a regional basis.

“We hope that this sends out a strong message to these so-called Rogue Traders who prey upon the vulnerable in our society and give hard working honest businesses a bad name. There is no hiding place for them in Sandwell.”

Greenaway, who pleaded guilty to 13 charges and not guilty to nine charges, was convicted of making false and dishonest representations to six people whose homes he worked on, as well as further counts of frauds and furnishing false information and false claims to his employers.