To P or not to Part P

Very interesting and informative

I would love to know how many people year in the UK we actually killed (or maimed) in the past due to incompetent installations. This is by comparison to other things that could do with legislating against. I suspect this was set up to enable a few friends of the UK gov to make money and a spot of "easy spin" to make the gov look like it is actually doing something beneficial without actually costing them anything.

After 30 years in the electrical trade mainly in the distribution side of the indistry I now find myself in the situation that I can nologer do any new work on my or my friends properties as I do not have Part P. Many electricians work in the industrial sectors find themselves in the same boat. Like me they have the skill but do not do enough domestic work to cover the cost of obtaining Part P and the annual fee. Yet plumbers, Kitching fitters etc. are obtaining Part P and I am sorry if the argument is all about safety and improving standards are they really saying by going on a coarse for a short period of time and paying a fee you are going to have a better understanding of electrical installation than those with proper qaulifications and experience. Why did they not do what most European countries do and register all tradesmen, and only registered tradesmen can carry out work in their particular trade. Because of the extra costs imposed by the inplementation of Part P more people are turning to cowboys. The real reason for Part P is to get all work registered so it goes through the bookes and the taxes obtained.

I was trained in domestic electrical wiring at college in the early 1970's. So after 30 years of doing minor electrical work, suddenly I am not allowed to. I am CORGI registered and a member of the Institute of Heating and Plumbing Engineers. However, until I choose to take an unpaid day off work and attend a 'training course' I am apparently unable to connect a gas boiler to the mains and I am apparently unable to follow the manufacturer's instructions when installing a new hot water tank. I have to go to a training course to know that all radiators in a house should have a thermostatic radiator valve, and until I attend the course and answer the question 'should all houses have loft insulation and a thermostatic radiator valve on each radiator? I am not allowed to register a new boiler installation. There are only 2 reasons I can think of for this regulation: one is to gather more tax for the government, and the other is that with the reduction in 'reading, riting and rithmetic' capabilities of school leavers, there is a genuine need to check that workers can actually read the instructions that come with all boilers, water tanks, showers and so on. What a sad state of affairs! Apparently we need CORGI because in a typical year, 7 or 8 people are killed in the UK as a result of a gas incident. Apparently we do not need to check on peoples' ability to drive a car in spite of the fact that 35,000 people are killed on our roads every year.

How difficult is this to Police. What if a house holders gets the local retired non registered electrician in to re wire the house. The owner decideds to sell the house but tells the solicitor they cant remember who to did the work. All the electrical installation needs is the usuall inspection that is usually done when selling a house whether its re wired or not. The house gets sold. M C Dell, Manchester

As someone who does the odd bit of DIY now and again, I find these new laws an unjustifiable infringement into dictating what I can and can not do in my own home. It is typical of the vast amount of controlling legislation passed by this NuLab government and infringes all our rights as individual citizens. It is none of the council's business whether I plan to work in the kitchen or bathroom, or any other room in my own home for that matter. I'm intelligent enough to avoid anything dangerous, and even if I were not then I would be responsible for it. If I sell my home at a later date, then the potential buyer is responsible for getting it checked before they buy. This seems to me to be purely an attempt to control the individual, and raise and much income for doing b all as possible. I await a common sense administration to remove all this nonsense, but I'm not holding my breath.