Are BG engineers actually qualified engineers or just rgi;s. ?
or can anyone be classed as an engineer ?
do they have an engineering certificate ?
They have qualifications in an engineering discipline.
Anyone can call themselves an engineer in the UK, it is not a legally-protected term as is, for example, the word 'solicitor'. So, of course anyone with a gas ticket can call themselves a 'gas engineer' or a 'heating engineer'. And there are also aeriel engineers, washing machine engineers, television engineers, etc., some of whom will have no comparable qualifications.
However, within the engineering industry the term 'engineer' has a different meaning. Any large engineering enterprise will require teams of specialists, all of whom will have qualifications in various engineering disciplines. Ship building would require welders, pipe fitters, machinists, engine fitters, draughtsmen, duct fitters, electricians, instrument technicians, radio technicians, radar technicians, etc., all of whom could be described as 'engineers'. In this environment, the term engineer is usually only used in reference to those with a CEng qualification and above (usually honours degree & 3+ years CPD), those who are responsible for designing and organising the work. A technician calling himself an engineer would be laughed at.
In short, there is very little such large-scale engineering left in the UK; gas technicians commonly call themsleves 'engineers' without any attempt at irony and they use the term to customers with no fear of contradiction. Neither the gas technicians nor the customers have any experience of commercial engineering industries and neither find the term inappropriate.
There are no laws about the use of the term. They could call themselves a jam doughnut, so far as I'm concerned.
Someone I once knew said he was an Engineer whilst working in Germany; he was thereafter addressed as "Herr Doktor Engineer". Germany is one of the few (the only?) countries in Europe with a significant engineering manufacturing industry. I doubt that German gas fitters call themselves engineers. Go figure.
i have got the answer i was expecting .
sunnie an engineer of leisure.
Redundancy?