WORK & BUSINESS LICENSES
Media Releases
7 February 2020

South Australia's consumer watchdog has commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court against the director of a West Lakes based demolition business alleging he engaged in unconscionable conduct, wrongly accepted payment and made false or misleading representations to eight consumers.

The Commissioner for Consumer Affairs is alleging 54 year old John Goros (formerly Gorcilov) agreed to undertake demolition works at a fixed rate for eight clients, as sole director of an entity trading as Hindmarsh Demolition.

"We are alleging that partway through these demolition works, Goros told the consumers that asbestos had been discovered and that it had contaminated the demolition rubble," Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Dini Soulio said.

It's alleged that Goros often used high-pressure tactics to demand the extra money, such as telling consumers he may lay claim to their land if they did not pay, or warning that they could face significant fines if the supposedly contaminated materials were not removed.

"We will be arguing that, in fact, there was no asbestos-contaminated materials found and that the materials were disposed of at facilities that weren't licensed to accept asbestos, so Goros did not incur any additional costs - despite charging the consumers extra," Mr Soulio said.

"In one instance, we allege a consumer requested receipts to see proof that the materials had been disposed of at a licensed asbestos facility and Goros created a false receipt for the 'Dublin Waste Asbestos Facility' - a facility that doesn't actually exist."

The Commissioner is seeking compensation for affected clients, an order barring Goros from managing corporations for ten years and further penalties for breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.