A man who refused to pay for plumbing work which he claimed was not up to standard has had his bill reduced by a district judge.

Steve Cross, who runs a plumbing and heating firm in Bicester Road, Kidlington, took Bob Marchant to court for failing to pay a £189 bill for work to replace a toilet cistern at his home in Bowerman Close, Kidlington.

At a small claims hearing at Oxford County Court, on March 1, district judge Vivienne Gatter said Mr Cross was entitled to be paid - but reduced the amount Mr Marchant owed him to £148.

The court heard Mr Marchant had been to Mr Cross's shop and asked a sales assistant if the firm could replace his leaking cistern with a new plastic one.

Mr Cross said: "He was told it would be £75 for the first hour and £50 for every hour after that.

"We always inform any hourly rate work we do before we undertake it so there is no misunderstanding."

But Mr Marchant denied he had been told about the first hour charge, saying: "If I was told that it would be £75 I would have done the job myself. Never at any time was an hourly rate discussed."

The work was carried out on May 23 and took two hours.

But Mr Marchant was not happy with the standard of work, and went into the shop to complain.

He told the court it was screwed into the wall half an inch out of level and the lid did not fit.

Mr Cross said that on May 30 the cistern had been replaced with a china cistern costing twice as much.

He said that as an "act of good faith" he did not charge for the extra cost of the cistern or for the second call out.

He said he also agreed to knock £10 off the £50 hourly charge.

After the hearing Mr Marchant, 59, said he was "quite pleased" with the reduction in his bill.

Mr Cross said: "I am pleased the judge passed judgement in our favour."