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Episode 7

Welsh consumer issues. Rhodri Owens weighs up cost against convenience in a breakfast-cooking challenge. And a look at the sale of legal highs to Swansea youths.

Rachel Treadaway-Williams investigates the music teacher who took money from her pupils for piano exams which turned out to be fake. Rhodri Owen weighs up cost versus convenience in a breakfast-cooking challenge for sporty students in Rhoson-Sea. And the programme looks at the sale of legal highs to young people in Swansea.

30 minutes

Last on

Mon 16 Nov 2015 19:30

Piano Teacher Stages Fake Exams

Piano Teacher Stages Fake Exams

A music teacher from Grovesend repeatedly lied to her students and took money for piano examinations which turned out to be fake or non-existent.

Keith Hopcyn from Gowerton told X-Ray how Nadine May had taught his teenage son Marcus for several years. Over the last 18 months, Mr Hopcyn says he paid her 拢100 in fees to enter his son for Grade two and Grade three piano examinations. He says Mrs May recorded the exams on a cassette and assured him that she would send them away to be marked.

Mrs May told Marcus he had passed both exams but no certificates ever appeared, so the family contacted the exam board. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music had no record of any entries and confirmed that they would never accept a recording for an examination.

Mr Hopcyn says the experience was devastating for his son. 鈥淲e had to tell him he had neither had Grade two or Grade three鈥, he explained. 鈥淭hat was the most depressing part鈥. The matter was reported to South Wales Police and the case remains open, but to date, the family has not received a refund.

X-Ray has discovered that Mrs May has a history of staging fake exams. In 2010, whilst working at the Brynhyfryd Music Teaching Studios, Mrs May took almost 拢2000 in exam fees from more than 40 children, supposedly to arrange exams with the London College of Music. When examiners didn鈥檛 show on two separate occasions, a parent contacted the exam board, who said they had no record of any entries.

Beverly Morgan, the head teacher of Brynhyfryd Music Teaching Studios and a distant cousin of Mrs May, said, 鈥淚t was extremely stressful for those poor children and for the parents鈥. Mrs Morgan said the incident damaged the reputation of the school and added that Mrs May is 鈥渨recking people鈥檚 lives and must be stopped鈥. After the incident was reported to South Wales police, Mrs May returned the money.听

When X-Ray wrote to Mrs May about this matter she refused to comment.

Direct Bikes

Direct Bikes

With more than a million of them on UK roads, bikes and scooters are a popular and relatively cheap mode of transport. And there are plenty of companies out there looking to give you a good deal online.听

Direct Bikes Ltd claims to be the UK鈥檚 number one scooter brand and boasts a string of celebrity customers including Amir Khan and Katie Price.

Daniel Austin from Caerphilly bought a scooter from their website for nearly nine hundred pounds including delivery. But he soon began to experience several problems

Firstly, he says the bracket holding his back box snapped whilst in use and fell into the road. Daniel also experienced intermittent problems with his petrol gauge, which often showed the tank was empty when it was full. This meant Daniel had to use a dipstick to check the level of petrol.

When Daniel complained to Direct Bikes they said he had damaged his bike and told him to go through his insurance. However, when Daniel took his bike for its first service, he received a bigger shock. A live wire was touching the metal frame of the bike.

When Daniel contacted Direct Bikes again to complain again he was told he had breached his warranty by failing to have two services within six months.

We contacted Direct Bikes who were adamant that they haven't done anything wrong and won鈥檛 be paying any compensation. When Daniel complained, Direct Bikes say he didn't provide them with the information they asked for - which Daniel denies. They say an expert has examined photos supplied by Daniel and insist that any damage to the scooter has been caused by him, including the loose wire and the broken back box. Direct Bikes also says he didn't follow the user manual correctly and failed to service his bike every three months, as required by their terms and conditions.

Legal Highs

Legal Highs

Legal highs with their bright, colourful packaging wouldn鈥檛 look out of place in a sweet shop. But they have become a menacing presence on many UK high streets.

The law around legal highs is complex 鈥 as soon as one substance is tested, and banned, another takes its place.听 New laws could soon ban their sale completely, but in Swansea, the authorities are not prepared to wait that long.

It's already illegal to sell to under 18s so when a sixteen year old boy from the Swansea area ended up in a coma after taking a legal high known as 鈥淓xodus鈥, a major investigation was launched.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Rhys Harries from Swansea Trading Standards led the investigation working with South Wales Police. They traced the sale of the product to a shop in Morriston called 鈥楻ebel Rebel鈥 owned by Kashif Iqbal.

The authorities carried out a series of raids where large amounts of cash and counterfeit goods were seized.听 During the final raid in July 2015, more than fifteen hundred packets of 鈥榣egal highs鈥 were confiscated from various premises linked to Mr Iqbal. The shop owner had even attempted to hide substances in various places including a hidden compartment inside the cash desk of the shop.

These legal highs are considered dangerous products and when they were tested by Trading Standards, it was discovered some of them contained traces of class B drugs.

The owner of Rebel Rebel, Kashif Iqbal has now been prosecuted for 10 drug offences and 49 consumer offences. On Friday 13th November he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Lucy Owen
Presenter Rhodri Owen
Reporter Rachel Treadaway-Williams
Series Producer Joanne Dunscombe

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