Episode 19 X-Ray

Hello, I'm Lucy Owen. And I'm Rhodri Owen.

You're watching X-Ray. This Iraq war veteran spent �34,000

getting his house renovated but 11 months on it's uninhabitable.

Remember those Motorcare warranties? We meet the Ferarri

owner who took them to court and still didn't get his money.

And any old iron? Lucy's looking Hello. Tonight we're in and around

Pontypridd where I'll been hearing about the growing problem of metal

theft. And we'll be talking about holidays.

What can you do if your travel company changes your holiday

schedule. But first, Rachel's been meeting an

Iraq war veteran who spent compensation from his injuries

doing up his house. The problem is Tom Cayless joined the army as a

doctor and ended up on the frontline in Iraq in 2007.

It was pretty frightening at times, I don't think what you do in med

school or the NHS really prepares you for some of the stuff that goes

As soon as we arrived we were attacked by rocket fire, and that

carried on for the rest of my time there. So you never really knew

when you were, when you could get Tom was injured in a rocket attack

Only quick thinking saved his life. It's only because I changed my mind

and jumped down to the right of the blast wall to speak to my medic

Tom was awarded �30,000 for his injuries including sustained

tinnitus and sent back from the front line. He was stationed in his

hometown of Newport and decided to put the money to good use.

He bought a house here and planned to use his compensation to renovate

He found a local building company called Buildtech Construction 33

Ltd run by Stephen Roberts. He thought he could trust them with

his money and his home. They came back quite quickly with

the quote, it looked very professional the way it was all

They told him the job would cost �22,000 and take around two months.

They'd priced the job down to the last screw. Work started well the

garage demolished and a bathroom removed. A decision to replaster

the property increased the initial quote. But 16 weeks later, Tom had

paid �28,800 to Buildtech and work had ground to a halt. He called a

meeting with the builders. Mr Roberts and his son Kyle, they

told me that the company Buildtech Construction 33 Ltd was going to be

dissolved, that they were shutting Stephen Roberts had another shock

for Tom. He told him the money he'd paid was gone.

When they told me that I just felt sick really that that money had

gone, I didn't believe how money could just disappear.

But Stephen Roberts had a solution. He was setting up a new company,

Enterprise Build, and was making The company was based here in the

same unit that Buildtech had used. And it's still trading under the

Buildtech name. Stephen Roberts said for another �7,200, that's on

top of the �28,800 Tom had already paid, this new company would step

Tom got a quote from another builder but he was going to charge

around �20,000 to finish the job. I had no choice. I either carried

on with Mr Roberts for �7,000 or paid �20,000 for someone else. Mr

Roberts said he had a good reputation and that he was willing

to do it free of charge but that he was under no obligation to do so,

so I felt I had little choice. I've been stung, I've just got to make

the most of it and pay out an extra �7,000 for materials.

By September Tom had paid another �5,000 to the new company and

though work started well it soon stopped again.

I tried first of all getting in contact via e-mail, just a polite

reminder of the work that was outstanding, didn't get any

response. There was no response to that so I wrote a letter of concern,

no response to that, so I wrote a formal complaint and there was no

response to that either. I got back an e-mail in November saying that

they had been working away and saying that they were going to come

back and do the kitchen, this didn't happen until eventually in

December to fit the kitchen units. How much is the work worth? That is

disputed. Stephen Roberts hired a quantity surveyor who says it's

almost finished and will be worth over �35,000. Another builder told

Tom it'll cost another �20,000 to finish.

I can't move in in the state that it is in at the moment, the

electricity hasn't been completed, the central heating hasn't been

completed, there's no bathroom fitted so it is completely

uninhabitable at the minute. So I'm paying out for a mortgage every

month for a house I can't move in In total Tom's paid out nearly

�34,000 to two different failed to complete the job both run by

Stephen Roberts and his family. And both companies failed to complete

I've come to Companies House in Cardiff to check them out. Stephen

Roberts told Tom in writing back in July that Buildtech was dissolving.

But look, the company is still active, although they've never

Records show the company has moved to a new building in Stoke on Trent,

and it's got a new director, Salim So has the company been sold? Well,

Salim Rahman hasn't answered our letter and Stephen Roberts won't

tell us. Had I been told that truth that

that company was still trading, I would have acted in a different

manner. It's just been a big shock really, and it has taken over the

whole of my life for the last 10 months and especially the last six

months since I was told the company was being dissolved. It's been

difficult to focus on anything else really.

I'm not surprised he's upset, the work's been on and off, mostly off,

for 11 months. Yes, well Stephen Roberts hasn't

been very good at answering Tom's letters but his accountant has

replied to us. He says Stephen is "displaying a supportive and

diligent attention to his clients". He blames business difficulties for

the delays and last week he said he would complete the work within two

weeks. But in another letter he now says he might not finish the job.

We'll be going back to Tom's house to see what happens.

And if you've had any experience of Stephen Roberts' building firms,

good or bad, get in touch. Now, you might be wondering what

we're doing in the middle of a playing field. Well, metal thefts

are on the rise here in Llantwit Fardre. The goal posts in these

playing fields have been stolen twice, forcing games to be

cancelled and costing �800 a time. And it's not just here. In St Asaph

�10,000 of lead was stolen from the Cathedral roof, in Anglesey they're

using plastic drain covers because so many of the metal ones were

being stolen. Lucy's been finding The reason why we've got such a

huge problem with metal theft is very simple the value of this stuff

has gone through the roof. Thanks to demand from countries like China

the price of copper has risen from �2,000 to �6,000 a tonne in just

So it's no surprise that criminals are stealing anything they can to

And they're taking a lot. Last year 15,000 tonnes of metal was stolen.

In Wales, it cost councils �700,000. That's one of the buildings they

took it off, by there, as well, the children's centre.

One town where they've been busy is Barry. Councillor Rob Curtis is

showing me around. Rob, what kinds of things have been going on here

in Barry? Well, we've had lead stolen off

some of council bungalows, pensioner bungalows, which is

absolutely appalling. Barry cemetery, the direction signs was

hit by there. �3,500 worth of signs was stolen. Now I can't think of

anything lower than actually taking signs from a cemetery.

Rob's taking me to meet one of the pensioners whose bungalow was

targeted by metal thieves. Some people think that metal theft is a

victimless crime but here in Barry Hello?

It was my next door neighbour. He came and said, "Did you know that

all the lead has gone?" The lead created a seal around

Carolyn's roof. Without it rainwater would flood in. What do

you think about the fact that lead had been taken from your roof?

I was disgusted, disgusted. It could have all been ruined here

everything would have been well soaking wet.

How has it left you feeling? Oh, I'm concerned, definitely. I've

got to go out now when I heard a noise. I used to think it was the

birds on the roof. Now I'm more aware and me and the dog goes out

looking. There are now plans for a total

change in the law to combat metal theft. Politicians want a ban on

cash deals. People selling metal should all present identification

and there should be more powers for the police to combat unscrupulous

scrap yards. But the proposals aren't going down well with

Scrap old iron, any old iron, old cookers, old washers microwaves,

TVs. Any old iron, any old iron, any old iron, scrap old iron?

Damien Duffy is a regular fixture on the streets of South Wales. So

Damien, what do you reckon to this new cashless system? Do you think

it's going to stop metal thieves? It's not going to stop metal

thieves. It might stop the minor metal thieves. The little kiddies

who go out and try and make a couple of quid because they're not

going to go to a scrap yard and have a cheque for like �20. It's

not going to make a difference to the big time thieves because

they'll be able to cash a cheque anywhere, won't they. So basically,

they're going to carry on doing it. The people running the scrap yards

like Roy Sheedy are also concerned. The only thing it will do, it might

drive metal theft underground. So you think it could have a

detrimental affect? I think it might. Yes, I honestly

do. There are unscrupulous people who deal in stolen metal. There

always have been always will be. But one thing the campaigners and

the scrappies agree on is more powers for the people on the front

line in the fight against metal theft.

I think we need better policing of the situation, and I don't just

mean the police themselves, I mean the Environment Agency and all the

other bodies that's concerned with it. They need to work together more.

But whatever happens to the law, right now there's an epidemic of

metal thefts across Wales. I'm out with the British Transport Police

on the hunt for a scrap yard with stolen metal. We've come to Old

Barry Sidings in Trehafod near Pontypridd.

OK Bob, we're going to do a quick visit on your premises. Just going

to have a look at your books, I'll have a look round for your cable?

So what are you looking for here, Derek?

We're looking for mainly railway cable. This is Rob's copper store.

He's got some cable over there. So we're just having a general look

around just to see whether he's got anything of interest to us.

Thefts of railway cables have cost millions and led to 10 deaths in

the past three years. He hasn't got much cable here. This

is maybe all household by the looks of it. Erm, this is out of a house,

this is all household stuff, there's nothing of the sort of

The police visit is part of an ongoing campaign. By targeting

specific areas, they are having an impact.

So nothing suspicious there, Derek? No, no, nothing suspicious this

time. Well Rob. We've finished the visit,

erm, we'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Everything's in order and we're happy, OK.

Thank you. Job done.

All in order there, but last year the crackdown on metal thefts from

railways led to more than 60 Good to see police taking action

but metal thefts are having a real impact on communities here. This

road has had no street lighting all winter because thieves stole the

power cables. Locals in this pub are not happy.

They have been stolen since last March. A long time. We've gone

through the winter without lights. They've been cut-off.

It's lethal to try and get down the back, down there. You can't find

your way. Somebody will have an accident.

Do you think the people realise the effect it has?

The trouble is, the people who do these thefts, they don't think

about other people and how it's affecting them. I think it's

disgusting. I've had an incident where they've

took the guttering of the side of my house. They are concerned about

having money. Well, that's the view from the Black Diamond in

Edmondstown. Now if you have anything you need us to look at,

get in touch. The details are on the screen now. Next, Lucy's On the

Jeff and Marian Walters thought they'd booked the perfect holiday

to suit Jeff's arthritis, but their dream trip soon turned into a

We were looking forward to our holiday until Saga changed the

flights and we ended up on a cramped coach for hours.

Jeff and Marian run a holiday cottage business from their home

here on Gower - but it's their Hi, Lucy, come on in.

To fit in with their business, Jeff and Marian planned to take a week's

holiday last October. We happened to be sitting down

Sunday morning reading The Times, and we happened to see the advert,

it happened to be with Saga. Croatia all-inclusive, and we

thought, this is what we would like, somewhere different. We rang, got

the details and booked it there and then.

Jeff, you suffer with arthritis, don't you, so the transfer times

were going to be important to you? Yes, I don't like sitting for long,

if I'm up and about and moving I'm better. Sitting for long periods, I

find it hard. But we choose to do things which will suit. You book a

holiday, and you book it because it's got what you want. $$NELWINE

Jeff and Marian paid �875 for the week-long break. They expected

great service - as the latest Saga advert says, nothing would be too

much trouble. But I can see from the notes here

that you had a call from Saga just before you travelled? It was about

a week before. They rang about 6:30pm. "I'm very sorry but Croatia

Airlines have pulled the flights." This is how they put it. So we had

to change our travel arrangements. So this map sums it up, Jeff,

doesn't it? This is where you were flying to, and you had a 35-mile

trip to Porec, your holiday destination, and that was due to

take about an hour, wasn't it? an hour which we thought, wonderful,

but in actual fact, that's where we flew to, the capital. And you can

just see how much longer that journey is? Absolutely. Horrendous.

Jeff and Marian would have to travel an extra 240 miles by coach,

but Saga insisted it was only a minor change.

We said to Saga, this isn't the holiday we chose, this isn't the

holiday we paid for. We're not getting the product we paid for.

You wanted to cancel, but I can see here that Saga wouldn't let you do

that? No, they said there was no way they would refund it, "It's a

minor change and we're allowed to do it." At no time did anyone say,

"We're sorry about this, byt." As expected, the coach journey was

uncomfortable. I think the journey overall was

about four and a half hours, we got to the hotel about 9:00pm. It was

pretty horrendous, not what we wanted at all. We would like

something more than the stock answer we've been getting of, "Well,

it's only a small change." I'm on Jeff and Marian have had a rough

ride, so what can you do if your holiday changes and you want to

cancel? Well, you can get in touch with the

Association of British Travel Agents, which offers a service to

help deal with disputes. Abta advise that customers put

complaints in writing to their holiday company, even if they

intend to travel as Jeff and Marian did. A letter of protest will make

clear that a customer may want to complain on their return.

So what about Jeff and Marian? Well, Saga say they found the best

possible alternative after the original flight to Pula was

cancelled. They offered Jeff and Marian three other holidays, which

were turned down, but do admit they could then have given the couple a

credit towards a future holiday. After reviewing the case, Saga have

now offered Jeff and Marian a Thanks, Lucy. We're pleased to get

this sorted, and now we can book another holiday.

Another great result. Now, last week, we brought you the story of

Motorcare Elite, which provided breakdown warranties on used cars.

The company was run by Harby Panesar from the Vale of Glamorgan,

who flaunted his wealth on TV back in 2009 in a cable TV show about

his daughter's birthday party. But he was less happy to be on telly

when we asked why some of his policies had turned out to be

worthless. Have you got nothing to say to your

customers? At this point, no. you owe them an answer? At this

point, no. Well, since last week, we've heard

from more unhappy Motorcare customers, including one guy with a

very nice car! When Richard Sexton from Cardiff

splashed out on this gleaming Ferrari 360, it came with a

Motorcare Elite warranty. But when the car needed repairs costing more

than �2,400, he struggled to get the money from Motorcare.

I got into a very protracted correspondence with them. Various

telephone calls and various swapping of correspondence with no

real joy, really. Richard took Motorcare to court and

won, but by then they had gone out of business. Underwriters Alpha

Insurance did agree to pay some of the money. But Richard says he's

still �800 out of pocket. Harby Panesar says he administered the

policy correctly. It made me very sceptical of the

whole warranty system. I just feel this company has acted in a very

unprofessional and poor manner. And it's not just Ferrari drivers

who've been let down. A driving school based just eight hundred

yards from Motorcare's HQ in Llantwit Major also fear they have

lost out. Sue Newbon bought life of ownership warranties for her

driving school cars. Now the insurance company named on her one

remaining policy says it's not valid, though Mr Panesar insists it

We really did need those warranties. It was going to keep our vehicles

running, and it was going to help pay for some of what can be quite

expensive repairs to the vehicles. Lots of unhappy customers there.

Next, Rhod's been down to a very foggy Ogmore-by-Sea, to meet a

family whose brand new flat roof When you live by the seaside,

there's nothing better than a stroll along the beach, even at

this time of year. Then going home to a warm house to dry off. That is,

if you're home's not as wet on the inside as it is on the outside.

This house in Ogmore-by-Sea has suffered from damp ever since its

owner, Sharron Taylor, had flat roofs replaced in 2009.

We've been here about six years now. We inherited the house from Chris's

parents when they passed away. It was very run down, it needed major

modernising. We completely gutted the house and renovated the place.

How essential was it to have a new roof here? It didn't actually need

doing when we had it done, it wasn't urgent, but we decided as we

were doing the entire house out at the time, to save us hassle in the

future, we'd have it done then. Sharron's husband had a look in the

Yellow Pages and found a local roofer in Bridgend. Malcolm Butler

from MJW Roofing Services, also known as ACE Roofing, said he'd do

the work for �1,500. But within a year of the job finishing, Sharron

started to notice a damp problem. And you can see the water marks as

running down the wall there. At one stage it really was literally, we'd

be sitting here and there'd be brown dirty water running down the

inside of the wall. We had an issue with damp on the

wall and we said, it's got to be the roof, so we went outside. My

husband took the fascia off and had a little look, and the roof was

absolutely soaking, sodden and rotting underneath the fascia.

As the problem got worse, Sharron decided to ask Malcolm Butler, who

had fitted the new roof, to come and see if there might be a problem

with it. He's adamant there's nothing wrong

with his work and he told us it was coming in under the fascia and it

was nothing to do with the roof. Sharron then got in touch with her

insurance company, who sent out an independent surveyor to inspect the

property back in November 2011. And the surveyor's findings did not

reflect well on Malcolm Butler's roofing skills.

"Fibreglass on the roof above the lounge not sufficiently applied and

as a result water penetrating the roof," "Sections of roofing of poor

design and detail," "Damage is the result of poor workmanship," "Roof

is of inadequate standard and should be replaced under

guarantee." I was horrified, I was like, I knew

we had a problem there and he said we needed to get the roofs re-done.

The leak was caused by poor workmanship, and we wouldn't trust

him to come up and repair it. $$NELWINE So Sharron then asked two

other roofing companies to come and assess the property, one of which

claimed the previous work was "substandard" and "beyond remedial

work". So repairing the damage was going to be pricey.

We had to shell out �900 just before Christmas out of our savings,

which has pretty much wiped us out now. The garage roof still needs

doing, and we haven't got the money at the moment to do it - unless we

get some money back off Mr Butler, we won't be getting our garage roof

done. We asked chartered surveyor Kevin

Thomas to take a look at the problem.

Therein lies proof of how much water it's soaked up. That is

absolutely soaking wet. There has been no effort to prepare anything,

no effort to do something properly. And what does he think of the

remaining flat roof? OK, so this is it, what are your

thoughts? The immediate things that come to mind are, if you look at

the fibreglass mat on this, you can see it, you can see it clearly here,

and you can see it on these ridges there. And obviously you shouldn't

be able to see it. Shouldn't be able to see that. That's just not

thick enough. It'll break down fairly quickly over the short term.

You've got these cracks also, obviously water is going to get

through those, isn't it? Water's going to get in there. In fact, you

can already see you've got algae growth in amongst the matting, and

in a marine environment like this, it's not going to last any time at

all. It's not a suitable replacement, and it is poor

workmanship. Is there anything positive you can say about it?

really, no. No is the short answer. That's not good at all. Take it off,

re-do it. So what's Kevin's advice to people

looking to replace their flat roofs? You're well worth paying

someone to write a small specification for you of what you

have been priced by the relevant builders. The other thing you need

to have from anyone who's quoting for this sort of work is the

guarantee, and it really should be an underwritten guarantee.

This advice has come a bit late for Sharron.

Very frustrating, very upsetting to think we've put in all the years of

work and renovation and decorating. The more I keep looking at it and

thinking, "Oh my God, it's horrific."

Now, we have spoken to Mal Butler, and over the phone at least, he has

now promised to repay Sharron and her family the full �1,500. This

hasn't happened yet, so we'll be keeping an eye on the situation.

That's all we've got time for this week, but next week I'm heading

north to Dolgellau. So wherever you are in Wales, if there's anything

you'd like to get in touch with us about, the lines are open now -

03703 334 334. Or go to our website, bbc.co.uk/xray, and go to the "get

in touch" button. Or remember you can always tweet us @bbcxray!