A ROOFER accused of being a ‘rogue trader’ by Watchdog is back in business — and facing two fresh Trading Standards investigations.

Simon Fielding, 51, of Sunderland Street, Burnley, was featured by the BBC consumer programme in October, which accused him of shoddy workmanship.

His firm of 20 years, 1st Call Roofing, listed to White Goat Farm, Whalley Banks, Whalley, closed down after appearing on the show.

Now it has emerged that he has launched a new business, Ribble Valley Roofing.

It is listed to The Croft, Whalley Banks, and is using the Confederation of Roofing Contractors (CRC) logo in his Yellow Pages advert, despite not being registered by the group.

In addition, a customer, mum-of-three Victoria North, of St Hubert’s Street, Great Harwood, has complained about the standard of his work.

Lancashire Trading Standards officers are both investigating the CRC logo issue and Ms North’s complaint.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Mr Fielding said he was happy with the work carried out at Ms North’s house, and blamed the logo use on an error that ‘was not my fault’.

He said he told all customers he was not actually a member of the CRC.

The CRC is the country’s main roofing trade association and was set up in 1985 to protect the public from unscrupulous contractors.

For a firm to be approved, the CRC carries out checks and demands references for membership.

To falsely claim membership is a criminal offence for fraudulent trading. It can result in a heavy fine, or even imprisonment.

On Ribble Valley Roofing, Mike Wolfe, of the CRC, said: “This was reported to us in April.

"We made some checks and found he was falsely claiming membership.

“We reported it to the local Trading Standards body who are investigating with a view to a prosecution.

“Mr Fielding did sign up for CRC membership as 1st Call Roofing in April 2010, but stopped paying and his membership was deleted in August that year.

"After the Watchdog programme he phoned up and asked to become a member again, but that was declined.”

Mr Fielding was featured on Watchdog after the BBC said it had received complaints from Fielding’s customers that flat roofs had leaked after he re-felted them.

According to the BBC, Mr Fielding quoted £900, said the slipped tiles were ‘missing or broken’ and that an upper flat roof needed replacing.

Their own expert described the finished job as ‘awful’ and said he struggled to give it ‘one out of 10’.

The BBC claimed that within days, and after several rain showers, the roof was leaking again, far worse than before.

Speaking at the time in response to the programme, Mr Fielding’s solicitor accused of the BBC of questionable practices and said his client did not accept the assertions about previous customers or criticisms of his workmanship.

Last month Ms North said she picked Ribble Valley Roofing out of the Yellow Pages to repair a leak in the attic and broken gutter.

She said: “He had a look and said it was a ‘messy’ job.

“He then said there was no felting, there was rotten material and that it needed new slates and a new membrane.

“I paid the £3,700 in good faith and off he went, but when it rained on Friday the leak was worse than before.

“I have tried to get him to return but every time I call he says to be in Birmingham with his poorly daughter.”

Only on Monday, when Ms North began to do some ringing around did she discover Fielding’s previous brush with Rogue Traders.

She has since reported the problem to Lancashire County Council’s Trading Standards department.

When the Lancashire Telegraph contacted Mr Fielding on Tuesday he said he was driving back from Birmingham Children’s Hospital to Lancashire having been at his daughter’s bedside during an operation.

He said his first job would be to visit Ms North’s house and repair the leak and maintained he was ‘happy with the standard of his work’.

Mr Fielding said: “There was no leak when I had finished. But I’ll be back at work later today.”

On the misleading advertisment, he said: “That’s not my fault.

"The advert wasn’t supposed to go in this year - I wasn't even going to bother anymore.

"I tell each customer that I’m not a member.”

A spokesman for LCC Trading Standards confirmed it had received the two complaints and was investigating Mr Fielding.