A man who ran a gate and fencing business in Hirwaun has been given a suspended prison sentence after five customers paid for work that was either left unfinished or never started at all.
Paul Pedler, of Sixth Avenue, Merthyr Tydfil, received six months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, when he appeared for sentence at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Wednesday.
He was also placed under a Criminal Behaviour Order lasting six years and told to pay £5,750 in compensation in total.
The court heard that money totalling £6,240 handed over by customers was never returned to them.
The business
Pedler owned L&F Fabrication and Fencing Ltd, a Hirwaun-based construction firm that made cast iron metal gates and fencing.
Five customers took the company on for gate and fencing jobs between June 2024 and August 2025. None of the jobs was finished, some were never begun, and the work that was done was described in court as being of a poor standard. Refunds and deposits Pedler had promised to return were not paid back.
What happened to each customer
- A homeowner in Merthyr Tydfil paid a £5,000 deposit for a balcony. Work never started and deadlines came and went. The steel that eventually arrived was rusty. Pedler offered part discounts and then a full refund, but the money was never repaid.
- A couple in Carmarthenshire paid £1,000 towards three gates to be supplied and fitted. Contact with Pedler was patchy, he made excuses and he did not turn up to carry out the job.
- A third customer paid a £750 deposit for fencing, gates and a canopy. Pedler did not attend, and the fencing that was put up was inappropriate, incomplete and rusty.
- A customer in Newport booked him to fit a side gate. He missed appointments and gave excuses for not showing up.
- A customer in Rhondda Cynon Taf also hired him, but he never came. That customer was refunded, though Pedler still benefited by £1,120.
Trading standards investigation
The customers took their complaints to Merthyr Tydfil Council’s trading standards team. Pedler was asked to attend an interview, but he did not turn up.
The council was also contacted by phone by people who claimed to be Pedler’s father and stepmother. They offered to refund customers and get the work finished.
The charges
Pedler, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to offences of:
- carrying on the business of a company with intent to defraud creditors or for another fraudulent purpose
- engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading action under regulation 5
- knowingly or recklessly engaging in a commercial practice contravening regulation 3(3)(a), distorting the behaviour of the average consumer
- engaging, as a trader, in an unfair commercial practice involving a misleading action
- engaging, as a trader, in an unfair commercial practice involving a contravention of the requirements of professional diligence
Defence arguments
Sol Hartley, defending, told the court his client had not behaved dishonestly. He said Pedler had tried to strike out on his own by setting up a business, but he was not “experienced enough or qualified to do that”.
Mr Hartley said alcohol and drug misuse had “blighted” Pedler’s life and that he “did not have a handle on things”.
He added that Pedler has a partner and two children who would suffer if he were sent to prison.
Sentencing
Judge Celia Hughes said she accepted that Pedler had not shown “deliberate or malicious behaviour”.
She suspended the six-month prison term for 18 months, imposed the six-year Criminal Behaviour Order and ordered him to pay compensation totalling £5,750.
