LoginNeath Driveway Cowboy Sentenced
A rogue trader who took money for shoddy and unfinished work has been ordered to pay back £11,000.
Journal of Trading Standards Staff
Posted 01 August 2025 | JoTS Online
Content Tags: Updates|Crime|Wales
A rogue trader who ripped customers off with poor quality and unfinished driveways has been convicted of fraud offences and ordered to pay back £11,000 following a prosecution by Neath Port Talbot Trading Standards.
Jonathan William Price (45) of Cowslip Drive, Penarth, used the false name Jonathan Lewis when he handed out flyers in July 2022 advertising free quotations and ‘no upfront payments’ for installing tarmac driveways at the homes of local residents.
One customer who took him up on the offer agreed to pay £3,000 in cash for a new driveway. The work was carried out quickly, and soon afterwards the customer realised it had been done to a poor standard, with the driveway’s surface beginning to flake and chip away.
Another customer was pressured into paying £8,000 for a diamond pattern driveway after being told that the cost would rise to £12,000 if it was not carried out soon. After paying for the work via bank transfer, the customer noticed misaligned paving and gaps. It had also been left unfinished.
Neither customer had been offered the legally required 14-day cancellation period, and both were asked for payment upfront, despite the claims made by the ‘Jonathan Lewis Trading’ flyer.
The customers complained to Neath Port Talbot Council Trading Standards, who commissioned a quantity surveyor to inspect the work.
The surveyor confirmed the customers’ opinions that the work had been conducted to a poor standard. He also found that in both cases it had been significantly overpriced, valuing the cost of the first driveway at around £600-£700 (as opposed to the £3,000 paid by the customer), and the second at around £1,500-£1,800 (rather than the £8,000 paid).
Both driveways subsequently had to be re-laid at a cost of £2,000 and £3,000 respectively.
Price also failed to properly dispose of the waste and rubble created during the works, with an investigation by Neath Port Talbot Council’s Waste Enforcement team finding two examples of waste being dumped illegally.
Price – who had offered no comment during a formal interview by Neath Port Talbot Trading Standards and Waste Enforcement – later pleaded guilty to offences under the Fraud Act 2006, as well as entering guilty pleas to two offences under s33(5) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
At a sentencing hearing on 21 July at Swansea Crown Court, Price was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years for fraud offences, plus three months’ imprisonment suspended for two years for offences under the Environmental Protection Act. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Price must also complete 250 hours of unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity.
And the victims are to be reimbursed, with Price being ordered to pay compensation of £3,000 and £8,000 to the two complainants.
Councillor Cen Phillips, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards and Public Protection, said: “Residents must remain vigilant to avoid becoming a victim of a rogue trader. It’s pleasing to see our Trading Standards Officers and Waste Enforcement team have worked together to bring about this prosecution.”
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Content Tags: Updates|Crime|Wales
