Winter safety checks for over-75s
Every November and December, Paul and one other electrician spend two days a week visiting people aged 75 and over for a free 30-minute visual check of the things that cause most winter electrical fires: plugs, sockets, extension leads, portable heaters, electric blankets and smoke alarms. We do not test circuits or open the consumer unit. We look, we test the alarm button, we replace a dead smoke alarm battery, and we tell you plainly if something should not be used.
We run the checks with Age UK Blackpool and District, who take the bookings and pass on the addresses, so nobody has to give their details to a firm they do not know. Nothing on the visit is sold. If we find something that needs real work, we write it on a card, leave it with you, and you or your family decide what to do with it, with us or anyone else.
We started in the winter of 2018 with 22 visits. In 2025 we visited 60 homes across Poulton, Blackpool, Thornton-Cleveleys and Fleetwood, and swapped 14 smoke alarms that were past their ten-year date. Booking for winter 2026 opens through Age UK in October.
- Free 30-minute visual check, November and December
- Plugs, sockets, leads, heaters, electric blankets and smoke alarms
- Booked through Age UK Blackpool and District, not through us
- 60 homes visited in 2025, nothing sold on the day
Poulton Town Juniors under-11s
Since the 2019 season we have sponsored the under-11s at Poulton Town Juniors, who play at Cottam Hall playing fields on Sunday mornings. We pay for the home and away kit every two years, the training bibs and the end-of-season trophies, and our name goes on the shirts in a size that does not embarrass the children.
In 2022 the club asked what else would help and the answer was a defibrillator at the ground. We supplied and installed a heated outdoor cabinet and defibrillator by the clubhouse, registered it with The Circuit so ambulance control know it is there, and Daniel checks the battery and pads every quarter. It is available to anyone on the fields, not just the club.
Two of the current squad are children of our customers and one is Karen's grandson, which is the real reason she comes to the matches.
- Kit, bibs and trophies since 2019
- Defibrillator and heated cabinet at the ground since 2022, checked quarterly
- Registered with The Circuit, the national defibrillator network
Guides and videos as a public service
A lot of what people ring us about does not need an electrician. A tripped RCD after a bulb blew, a landlord asking what an EICR actually covers, somebody wondering whether their 1980s consumer unit is dangerous or just old. We wrote our guides and recorded our short explainer videos so that you can get those answers at ten o'clock at night without ringing anyone.
They are written by the people who do the work, checked against the current edition of BS 7671, and updated when the rules change. There is no sign-up, no email capture and no "call us for a free survey" at the bottom. If a guide tells you that you do not need us, that is the right answer and we would rather you had it.
Since 2023 we have also let Blackpool and The Fylde College use the guides in their Level 2 teaching, and Age UK hand out printed copies of the winter safety one at their coffee mornings.
- Plain-English guides and short videos, free to read and share
- Written by our electricians and checked against BS 7671
- No sign-up and no sales message at the end
Our no-pressure policy
Rogue traders target older and vulnerable people with scare stories about the fuse box, and the Fylde coast gets its share. We will not be mistaken for them, so since 2020 we have had a written no-pressure policy that applies to every domestic job.
If you tell Karen when you book that you would like it, we will not start any work costing more than £500 until we have spoken to a trusted person you name: a son or daughter, a neighbour, a carer, a solicitor, whoever you choose. We ring them, explain what we have found and what it will cost, and only go ahead once they are happy. It takes ten minutes and it has stopped nobody from getting work they needed. It has twice stopped work that a relative knew was already booked with someone else.
Beyond that, nobody on our team is paid commission, nobody will ask you to decide on the day, and every quote is in writing with a price that does not change unless you change the job. If you want to think about it for a month, think about it for a month.
- Ask for it when you book, and we note it on the job
- No work over £500 starts until your named person has been rung
- No commission, no deciding on the day, written fixed quotes
Guest houses after a storm
When a named storm pushes the sea over the Promenade, the basements and ground floors of the South Shore guest houses are the first to flood, and the electrics in them are the first thing that has to be made safe before anyone can start drying out. The owners are usually small family businesses with bookings arriving in weeks.
Twice now, after Storm Ciara in February 2020 and Storm Isha in January 2024, we have given a free call-out to any Blackpool guest house with flood-damaged electrics in the seven days after the storm. We isolate what is unsafe, test what can be kept, tell the owner in writing what needs replacing and what can wait, and give them a report they can hand to their insurer. In 2024 that was 11 guest houses in four days, with Daniel and Jack doing little else that week.
The call-out and the report are free. If repair work follows, it is quoted and priced like any other job, and several owners used the report to get the work done by their own electrician, which is fine by us.
- Free call-out and written report in the week after a named storm
- Done after Storm Ciara (2020) and Storm Isha (2024)
- 11 guest houses made safe in four days in January 2024
Buying locally
Almost everything we fit comes from two counters: our wholesaler on Amy Johnson Way in Blackpool, where we have had a trade account since 2004, and the Fleetwood branch, which covers our jobs north of the river. Between them they hold the cable, consumer units, fittings and test gear we need, and if something is not on the shelf it is usually there the next morning.
We could buy some of it cheaper online and we do not. The counter staff know which brands have had problems, the branch will take back what we over-ordered, and when a job goes wrong at four on a Friday there is someone to ring who knows our name. The money stays on the Fylde and the apprentices on both counters are getting the same start ours did.
The same goes for the rest of the firm. Our vans are serviced in Poulton, our accountant is in Thornton, our signage was done in Fleetwood and the brews come from the cafe two doors down.
- Trade accounts with our wholesaler on Amy Johnson Way and the Fleetwood branch
- Next-morning availability on most stock
- Vans, accounts and signage all done by Fylde firms
