A CAERPHILLY county borough camper van conversion company who previously refurbished vehicles for Madonna and Guy Ritchie will have to pay out more than £2,500 after leaving a client at “great risk” by not properly fitting a seatbelt.

Dayne Bartlett, age 46, of Touch of Class Upholstery at Penallta Road and Robert Kerr, age 49, of Hengoed Hall Gardens appeared before Newport Magistrates' Court on Friday charged with producing a product that was not safe.

The trial was brought to court on behalf of trading standards for Caerphilly County Borough Council under the General Product Safety Regulations.

Bartlett, the co-owner of the company, and Kerr, a sub-contract gas engineer, pleaded not guilty to the offence and were unrepresented in court.

The court heard how in December 2013 one of the company’s clients, Michael Broad, from Weston-super-Mare, had the interior of his van refurbished for £7,000. The refurbishment involved the installation of a bed and a gas cooker.

Although initially happy with the results Mr Broad noticed a number of problems, including electrical wire hanging out of the television and shelves falling inside, when he went on his first overnight trip some three months later.

Giving evidence yesterday, he said: “I was quite upset and I went on to complain to trading standards.

“The gas safety engineer then carried out an inspection and put a do not use sticker on the cooker.

“The motor inspector said that the seatbelts for the bed should have been bolted to the floor rather than screwed onto plywood.

“It failed its MOT test as a result."

Gareth Rees, an expert vehicle examiner for more than 30 years who carried out an assessment of the vehicle in August 2014, added: “The seatbelt was poorly secured with a self-tapping bolt and it hadn’t been fitted onto the metal structure of the vehicle.

“The user was put at great risk. It was unsafe and dangerous.”

Andrew Scully, a senior fair trading officer for 20 years, organised the independent inspections and found that there were seven “at risk” threats from the gas insulation, including an insecure cylinder.

In his interview with Mr Scully, Bartlett was adamant that Kerr was qualified, despite him quoting the wrong ID number for his code of practice qualification in his own interview.

He said: “We’ve pimped Madonna’s ride and worked with Guy Ritchie. We’re not a fly by night company.

“He [Kerr] was on a code of practice course and as long as he’s qualified, that’s all I can give the customer.”

Summing up, magistrates chairman Robert Evans, said: “The seatbelt anchorage was insecure and dangerous.

“The installations were unsafe for use."

On behalf of the court, he fined Bartlett £900 and ordered him to pay costs of £1,950.85 and a victim surcharge of £45.

He fined Kerr £450 and ordered him to pay costs of £975 and a victim surcharge of £45.