Rogue Roofer Charging £7,000 Thwarted by Council Team
Hammersmith householder was called 40 times with demands for payment
A legitimate roofer at work
May 27, 2025
A Hammersmith householder who was being harassed by a rogue roofer demanding payment of a huge bill, has been helped out by the council’s Trading Standards team.
Having received a leaflet through the letterbox, he contacted the roofer to fix a few broken tiles. The roofer visited the site and a price of £700 was quoted initially but that was quickly escalated to £7,000.
The roofer then rang the householder more that 40 times chasing payment. Feeling under "extreme pressure", the resident had made an initial payment but then contacted the Trading Standards team who attended immediately just in case the builder called in person.
Officers then used the resident’s phone to call the trader and told him no further payment would be made before written details of the work and the material costs were provided. They also said the police would be informed. No paperwork was ever produced, and the legal name of the business was never revealed.
The resident afterwards praised the Trading Standards team for helping to "put his nightmare behind him".
"Unsurprisingly, there was no further contact from the trader," said Trading Standards team manager, Marcella Donegal. "After we were contacted, we were able to intervene and minimise the resident's losses."
Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion and Community Safety, Cllr Rebecca Harvey, said, "Our Trading Standards team is working hard to protect residents from doorstep scams like this. This is the latest example of some of the work we are doing as a council to help make H&F a stronger, safer and kinder borough."
If you receive a leaflet which doesn't look quite right through the door, send a photo to trading.standards@lbhf.gov.uk.
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