4,000 in the Auckland District Court for carrying out unauthorised gas works on a mobile food cart and a house. Investigators found the food cart could have exploded. Photo / 123rf" data-test-ui="article-media__image" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" />The work of an unlicensed tradesman was exposed after a gas griddle fell from a bench inside a food cart while the trailer was being towed.
The griddle landed on an exposed gas pipe installed by repeat offender Kevin Stanley Harris, creating what an investigation described as “an extreme risk to health and safety”.
It had not been properly restrained and the gas pipe was unprotected. The defects created a serious risk of gas escaping into the confined trailer and potentially causing an explosion, a trades board technical adviser said.
Harris, whose Onehunga-based company Kevin S Harris Plumbing was dissolved in 2014, was fined $14,000 in the Auckland District Court this week.
He was sentenced on four charges related to unauthorised gasfitting and sanitary plumbing carried out in March and April last year.
The charges included two counts of unauthorised gasfitting, one of unauthorised sanitary plumbing and one of carrying out an act intended to cause someone to believe he was registered and licensed as a gasfitter.
They related to work on the food cart and a separate job at an Auckland home, where Harris carried out unauthorised plumbing and gasfitting, including installing a gas water heater, LPG bottles and pipework.
He subsequently provided the home owner with a Gas Safety Certificate signed by him as a “certifier”, despite not being authorised to issue one.
The fine included a $1000 increase because of Harris’ previous similar offending and earlier warnings and prosecutions, the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board said.
Aleyna Hall, chief executive of the board, said Harris previously held exemptions allowing him to carry out gasfitting and plumbing under supervision.
Both exemptions expired in March 2021.
Harris had never been registered and licensed as a gasfitter or plumber and had not been authorised to carry out either type of restricted work since the exemptions expired, Hall said.
Despite being warned in 2022 to stop carrying out restricted work, he continued to offend.
Harris was fined $5300 in March 2023 and $13,200 in December 2025 for similar offences, the board said.
He did not appear at the sentencing this week and appears to have little presence in public records online beyond records of his former company.
Companies Office records show Kevin S Harris Plumbing was registered in January 2006 and removed from the register in February 2014.
Harris also did not engage with the board’s investigation into the latest offending.
Hall said the board welcomed the relatively high fine and described the case as particularly concerning.
“This is not the first time Mr Harris has come before the courts for this type of offending. He has previously been prosecuted and sentenced for unauthorised work, yet he has continued to work as a gasfitter,” Hall said.
She said the case demonstrated why gasfitting was restricted work, with unauthorised gasfitting carrying a maximum $10,000 fine.
Unauthorised sanitary plumbing also carried a maximum $10,000 fine.
“People need to be able to trust that someone carrying out gasfitting in their home or business is properly trained, competent and authorised to do the work.”
The board encouraged homeowners and businesses to check its public register before engaging someone to carry out plumbing, gasfitting or drainlaying work.
Harris was also ordered to pay more than $1700 in reparation to the clients, plus legal costs.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
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