A TRADER S bad memory has cost him £500 after he claimed the need to tell an 83-year-old Ely man his rights had completely gone out of his head . Shaun Price, 38, of Tanhouse Lane, Widnes was found by police officers on the roof of an Ely home with two t

A TRADER'S bad memory has cost him £500 after he claimed the need to tell an 83-year-old Ely man his rights had "completely gone out of his head".

Shaun Price, 38, of Tanhouse Lane, Widnes was found by police officers on the roof of an Ely home with two teenage boys after a call from a concerned member of the public.

Officers called Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards Department as part of a new taskforce set up to tackle rogue traders.

The pensioner had been in his garden on August 20 when he was approached by Price who claimed he was working nearby and had seen that he man's house had a damaged ridge tile.

After a closer inspection of the roof, Price told the man that there were one or two tiles broken and said he could repair them and clean moss off the roof for £1,600. The work would take from that afternoon, Wednesday, and finish on Friday and include sealing it with a high pressure silicone treatment.

In agreeing the work, Price never showed the man any paperwork and, importantly, did not provide a seven-day cancellation notice as required by law.

In a later interview with Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards officers, Price claimed that he knew about the seven-day cooling off period but that, on this occasion, it went completely out of his head.

Magistrates, sitting at Cambridge, on Thursday, told Price, who pleaded guilty to not informing the pensioner of his rights, that they could only punish him for the offence of failing to give the man his legal notice.

The court fined Price, who trades under the company name All White Property Maintenance, £400 and ordered him to pay £100 towards legal costs.

Cathy Inman, Rogue Trader Task Force officer for Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards, said: "Once again the close working relationship between us and the police has meant another rogue trader has been prosecuted. Price's lapse of memory has cost him £500 and hopefully will dissuade him from carrying out similar practices in Cambridgeshire. I would also like to praise the member of the public who was suspicious when Price called at her home and contacted the police. Her quick thinking meant this trader was caught at someone else's home and the gentlemen did not part with any money.