Rhondda security company fined for false claim of approved contractor status

September 7, 2021

On Thursday 26 August, a Rhondda security company pleaded guilty at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court to illegally branding their business as an SIA approved contractor.

Dragon Event Security Ltd and its two directors, Darrel Baldwin and Anthony Stone, were sentenced on the same day. Dragon Event Security Ltd was fined £390 and required to pay a victim surcharge of £39. Darrel Baldwin was fined £390 required to pay £480 court costs and a victim surcharge of £39. Fellow director Anthony Stone was also fined £390 and required to pay costs of £480 and a victim surcharge of £39. The former directors claimed to be dissolving Dragon Event Security Ltd which was founded on 20 January 2020.

The prosecution started with an SIA investigation into Darrel Baldwin’s former business, Stay Safe Events Support Ltd, for the alleged supply of illegal security. By the time the investigation gathered momentum the business had become Dragon Event Security Ltd.

SIA investigators discovered that Dragon Event Security was illegally displaying SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) status on company vans and on social media. Dragon Event Security has never been an SIA approved contractor. The SIA’s investigators asked Dragon several times to remove the ACS accreditation mark from its company vehicles and its Facebook profile. The directors refused to engage with the SIA and continued to display their false status.

This left the SIA no other option but to prosecute.

Nathan Salmon, one of the SIA’s criminal investigations managers, said:

The business falsely advertised that they had been awarded ACS accreditation. Dragon Event Security attempted to win lucrative business by purporting to be vetted and having gone through the rigorous process to be an approved contractor. Their persistent behaviour has landed them in court and as a result they have received fines and criminal records. This is a lesson for anyone who seeks to illegally display our ACS accreditation; we will prosecute any business who continues to purport to be something they are not.