Welcome to the Blogs

Here are just some of the tradespeople you have recommended this week. Click on the company names to view their ProblemSolved profiles:

• JBS services, Corgi registered, trustworthy plumbing and bathroom installation services. Based in SE London, covering London.

The Daily Star has started a campaign this week to help builders who are struggling in the industry.

According to the tabloid, builders are finding it hard to get work because people can’t afford to build new homes or even improve their existing ones. It also claims that companies are beginning to lay off staff and that the situation could become as bad as in the early 1990’s.

So what is the Daily Star doing to solve this ever increasing problem?

Gordon Brown has become one of the latest politicians to throw his weight behind the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) “Building a Greener Britain” campaign, which is looking at the role of the construction industry in bringing about a low carbon built environment.

A man from the Crawley area who worked as a plumber for 25 years has died from lung cancer following exposure to asbestos.

Ron Rose, who worked for G W Hitchcock Ltd from 1948 to 1971, was diagnosed in 2007 after visiting the doctor after complaining of back pain. Mr Rose had to stop caring for his sick wife as a result of the mesothelioma brought on by the exposure.

The coroner that examined Mr Rose’s body said: "He became exposed to asbestos during one particular project working at a petrol station.

A firm of plumbers in Oxford have been targeted by animal rights activists after working on Oxford University’s animal testing laboratory.

The slogan “Drop Oxford Uni” has been sprayed on the shutters of Steve Rusk Plumbers in Oxford. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the group which has claimed responsibility for the attack on an American website, oppose the animal testing laboratory which is owned and run by the university.

A director of a building firm in Bristol has warned people using the internet to be wary of death threats via email.

Andrew Sawyer, the boss of Buildtec, received an email claiming that he would be killed by an assassin if he didn’t pay $1,500 immediately and a further $2,000 at a later date. The email was later shown to be a fake but could prove to be very alarming to vulnerable or elderly internet users.

To search for reliable tradespeople in your local area, visit ProblemSolved.

For Alison Cork’s take on recent money matters have a look at her latest article on Orange’s property pages. This month Alison discusses who is to blame for the excessive borrowing of the last few years. Is it the banks, the Government or us?

An apprentice plumber, whose friends pleaded with him not to drive his car after consuming 11 pints, has been banned from driving.

Scott Parker from Worcester drank four pints of Fosters before driving to the next pub and quaffing a further seven pints. After spotting damage to road signs, Parker was stopped by the police and breathalysed. The test revealed that he had 94mcg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath, well over the legal limit of 25 mcg.

A pensioner in his eighties from Stanks in Yorkshire was trapped in his house for six weeks because of building works that surrounded his home.

Former lorry driver Frank Bullock was made housebound after builders who were working on a site next door, dug a channel outside his driveway that prevented access for his wheelchair.

82 year old Frank can now leave his house after an inquiry into the situation was made by the Yorkshire Evening Post.

It seems that the search for a reliable builders, plumbers and electricians is proving increasingly difficult north of the border. New figures from Consumer Direct in Scotland reveal that there has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of complaints against tradesmen this year.

CDS received 1,545 complaints in the first three months of this year, with the total value of the work involved in these complaints rising by almost £600,000.