MUCH is made in the media about rogue plumbers ripping off customers. No mention is ever made of people who have work done and have no intention of paying.

No mention either of selfemployed plumbers with 20, 30 or 40 years' experience who, every five years, have to fork out something like £3,000, including loss of earnings, to be tested by someone who has "read the books".

At the other end of the spectrum, you can now take a course, again led by someone who has "read a book", pass the paperwork and become a Corgi-registered gas fitter. In modern parlance, I think the phrase used is "it sucks".

Dave Quinn (not a plumber, a joiner), Howden-le-Wear, Crook, Co Durham.