Rogue traders investigation sees three members of the same family brought to justice

• The rogue traders befriended, groomed and intimidated their elderly and vulnerable victims
• They gave one victim sleeping pills and impersonated him in bid to steal £50K from his pension
• The victim died before seeing the gang brought to justice

Three rogue traders from the same family have been sentenced following a Shared Regulatory Services trading standards investigation into their illegal activities.

In a prosecution brought by Bridgend County Borough Council, the investigation was launched following complaints from residents about shoddy work and suspicious trading practices undertaken by a company called Fix A Drive Limited.

Officers found that Michael Cassidy, his father William Cassidy and sister Charlotte Cassidy had agreed contracts for driveway and home improvement works at two addresses in Bridgend County Borough.

Michael Cassidy was listed as the director of the company and a named signatory for the bank account. However, this was in name only, and he was found to have played a smaller part in the deception. His father William Cassidy, who was referred to as ‘the Boss’, played a primary role in obtaining and performing work on the homes of the two complainants.

The court heard that large upfront payments were taken for the work and when challenged by the victims, William Cassidy would act in an aggressive manner and intimidate the victims into paying. Any work that was done was of a poor standard and upon assessment by an independent surveyor, was found to have little to no value.

Ms Cassidy also fraudulently used credit cards to pay for materials for these contracts and upon realising their cards had been used in this way, the innocent parties were successful in making a claim against their credit card companies to obtain the monies back. This meant that the local companies from whom the materials were purchased were left thousands of pounds out of pocket.

The rogue trading family members worked together to gain as much money as they could from their victims using tactics such as intimidation and grooming as well as taking advantage of vulnerabilities. 

William and Michael Cassidy were sentenced at Cardiff  Crown Court on 6 March 2025, and Charlotte Cassidy was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on 2 April 2025. They were sentenced as follows:

William Cassidy had pleaded guilty to the offences against him at an earlier court hearing. Two of these were under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (poor quality work and his threatening and aggressive nature) and the other was under the Fraud Act (demanding money from victims despite telling them they didn’t need to pay anything until the work was finished). William Cassidy was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

After also entering guilty pleas to one offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 relating to poor quality work, and one offence relating to money laundering, Michael Cassidy was sentenced to 21 weeks imprisonment suspended for 21 months and 200 hours community service.

Following a guilty plea, Charlotte Cassidy was sentenced to an 18-month sentence, suspended for 24 months, 10 hours unpaid work, a 20 day rehabilitation programme and an electric tag is to be installed for 4months alongside a 8pm - 6am curfew. 

Neighbours, friends and family members are urged to report rogue trading and doorstep crime incidents to Shared Regulatory Services at the earliest possible opportunity by calling 0300 123 6696 or visiting the SRS website and filling in a contact form.

Information about any suspicious activity can be reported to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.