Linda Barker on Working Lunch

[Usenet Nutter]

Talking bollocks by telling people to stay away from Electrical work or Plumbing work and get a pro in to do it . No ifs or buts ..Just do not do it and of course,nobody there to contradict her.

[tim.....]

And you shouldn't do specialist tiling either. What the hell is "specialist tiling"?

(I think she made a reasonable point about the leccy though, given the likely audience)

tim

[Nomen Publicus]

Given the number of people working in the BBC on various house renovation and cowboy builder programs one wonders why a sofa designer was considered an expert on the topic.

[Matty F]

A "pro" may not do a good job. In New Zealand we have a TV programme called Target where professionals are asked to do all kinds of jobs while the owner is away. There are hidden cameras. Many professionals do not do a good job. Some wander around the house & check the panty drawers etc. Some pinch money.

d-i-y is best :)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Usenet Nutter saying something like:

"TV Presenter in Talks Bollocks Shock!"

She is a brainless tart, so what do you expect?

[Andrew Gabriel]

There's one called "Rogue Traders" here. They filmed a plumber taking piss in a header tank, and another one taking a piss in the bathroom basin, even though it was only about 2 feet from a perfectly working toilet.

[CD]

That would be "House of Horrors" here in the UK. Quite good when they spot the cameras & suddenly do a good job.

[bartc]

And this is actually broadcast on TV? With permission of the workman or not?

Some may have a harmless penchant for this sort of thing and perhaps they should be confronted privately, but broadcasting it to friends and family and possible customers seems unbelievably cruel.

Perhaps if a good standard of work is desired, tell the workmen in advance about the covert cameras connected to national TV, that might work quite well.

Otherwise one is tempted to think the TV station is just after some sensational footage, never mind leaving some poor guy's life in tatters, or worse.

[Adrian C]

But the BBC film those programmes for entertainment*, and the same rogues are found still operating (often later on the same programme) while trading standards and the courts do little to stop them. It kills public interest in hiring good professionals and things requiring safety work in the home get left undone, or left for resolution in the hands of the even more inexperienced.

• - To be honest, Rogue Traders and Watchdog is more daily maul voyeurism than public information these days. Some of their 'articles' would make better viewing shown _after_ the process of law has happened and rogues have been seen to. Not just left as "oh dear, this has happened, how horrible (what a silly old fool of a customer)" :-(

[The Wanderer]

Yebbut.....

Some of the questions I've seen in uk.d-i-y over the yaers have shown very clearly that the poster hasn't got a clue what he (or she) is taking about. In those circumstances they *shouldn't* be tackling that sort of work.

OTOH, why get so uptight about such comments? Will it stop *you* (or any of the other seasoned DIYers) from going ahead? There's no need to answer the question - I know the answer.

[Skeats]

It's not a case for getting a so called "professional" but getting a properly qualified one. Bodged work leads to higher charges later for repair.

Now "By law, only registered engineers should carry out gas work in people's properties.

This register is overseen by the Gas Safe Register, a safety body that replaced Corgi in April 2009"

laws on electrical work were brought in in 2005 I think. See "DIY-ers are to be hit by new laws set to come into force in January to combat unsafe electrical work. From next year "significant" electrical work will have to be carried out by a qualified and registered electrician, the government has confirmed. If householders decide to do the work themselves, it will have to be checked by local authority building inspectors. "

Linda Barker may have been advertising NICEIC Group? "the electrical contracting industry's independent voluntary body for electrical installation matters throughout the UK." Not bollocks by a long way.

I have a friend who, with her two children, ended up in hospital when her husband "mended" her boiler. Carbon monoxide poisoning.

M.

[Andy Dee]

Just my type... I love Linda Barker and her Leeds accent! A

[RubberBiker]

I'm surprised the number of people that are actually *scared* of electricity/plumbing/diy to the point that their emotional reaction prevents them from being rational about what is safe and what isn't.

This sort of TV item promotes that fearfulness and cluelessness.

[The Wanderer]

Why do people comment on the question they thought should have been asked rather than reply to what has been said?

[Ian F.]

How do you know? Have you met her?

Ian

[Andrew Gabriel]

know that what the BBC wrote there is incorrect.

Actually, I don't mind people who haven't read the regs being under the impression they aren't allowed to do gas work, as if you don't know the gas regs, then you aren't "competent" to do the work, and the regs require you to be "competent". Someone who's being paid to do the work has to be on the Gas Safe Register, but if you are doing your own, you need to be "competent".

Compliance is apparently less than 1%, with many local authorities never having had any requests for checks, and some others refusing to undertake them. The majority of home wiring other than initial installation is (and has always been) DIY in the UK, and the majority of that is fine. It has been pointed out many times that there are nowhere near enough electricians or LA BCO's to undertake that electrical work/inspection. Installations which are found to be in a dangerous state are mainly down to those which haven't been touched when they should have been and are thus old and/or inadequate.

And he was breaking the law, because he wasn't competent do to the work (which is what the law requires). That is unusual though. Most bad incidents are caused by unregistered cowboys, followed by registered fitters who got it wrong, followed by other professional builders whose work made an existing appliance unsafe. DIY gas incidents are pretty unheard of, which was partly why the HSE didn't ban them when gas safety regs were rewritten, even though the trade body wanted them to do so (for their obvious gain, of course).

[Derek Geldard]

Pinching money ?

Yeah, bring it on.

What are the circumstances when a good standard of work (That you will be paying for) is not required and you are happy that the workmen frisk your drawers looking for your wife's / daughter's panties ?

Are you for real ?

Whatever you're wearing out your keyboard with that one as far as I'm concerned, some stinking rotten lazy idle theiving shitbag of a builder pinched my violin.

Derek

[Jeff Lawrence]

Ah, so he was on the fiddle then? Cheers Jeff

[Stuart Noble]

I had one of those contractors on a job recently. Drilled through his own cable, forgot to earth the plumbing, and never did supply the certificate. Didn't get paid the final instalment either.

[Derek Geldard]

Whatever did he do ?

Not at all easy with a modern room sealed boiler.

FSVO "Modern", our new house bought in 1976 had one and it has been replaced 3 times since then.

Derek