TRADING Standards officers have launched a prosecution against a man alleged to have carried out substandard work on a property in Teignmouth.

Barney McGinley, 35, of Westbury, is accused of, between April 12 2021 and April 17 2021, being a trader while ‘knowingly or recklessly’ engaged in commercial practice which contravened the requirements of ‘professional diligence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

It is alleged the work was ‘materially distorted or likely to materially distort the economic behaviour of the average consumer’.

The charge relates to repair work carried out to a driveway of a property in Teignmouth without using an approved method and resurfacing a driveway without using a recognised method or materials.

McGinley is also charged, between April 12 2021 and April 23 2021, with committing fraud by dishonestly making a false representation to a woman that he was trading as Masterbuild Drivers Ltd and that the woman had a contract for services with the same company, intending to cause loss to another or expose that person to a risk of loss, contract to the Fraud Act 2006.

Magistrates adjourned the case to December 5.