Brighton & Hove City Council Trading Standards

Brighton & Hove Trading Standards Service

Welcome to our Website

This web site is part of our service to our traders and residents but you are free to browse this site no matter where you live. Just click on the links above to look at other pages. If you would like to know what we have been up to over the last few weeks, you can have a look at our 'Snapshot of interventions', a short run-down of how we have been helping local consumers and businesses. We will update this from time to time, so be sure to come back and visit another time!

We are here to protect the interests of Brighton & Hove City Council consumers and businesses. We can help with pre shopping advice from buying a second-hand car to employing the services of a builder or joining a Credit Union..

Consumer advice and information in Brighton & Hove is now provided by Consumer Direct South East. Consumer Direct is a telephone and online consumer advice service, which is supported by local authorities in the South East of England, and by the Department of Trade and Industry.

For help with buying goods and services, then you can look at our self-help advice sheets. If you want help with checking the validity of websites before you buy goods or services, then you can ask Howard the Shopping Assistant, who can give you advice on what to look out for. If you want to be a savvy shopper this Christmas then follow the advice that is being given to consumers during National Consumer Week by the Trading Standards Institute.

Follow this link for advice on Nutrition Claims and Labelling...

If you are aged between 13 and 17 years and you are interested in helping Trading Standards, you could volunteer to be a test purchaser. Full information on Too Young to Buy here.

Read the second edition of the Buy With Confidence newsletter here.....

Thanks for sending in all your scam letters, Scamnesty was a great success. Read on for the results.....

Have you been caught out by scammers? Read on for our top 10 tips for protecting yourself from scams and tips to help you recognise scams. The Office of Fair Trading's leaflet on the most common type of scams will show you what to look out for.

Are you a streetwise shopper? You can read some handy tips on how to get the best as a consumer here.

If you are thinking of booking a holiday this year, read on for some good advice.

If you are concerned about rip-off scams or rogue traders, you can now call the Scambusters Team. Brighton & Hove City Council's Trading Standards Service has joined forces with other authorities across the South East to combat doorstep crime and cold calling, high pressure sales, deceptive sales techniques that target the vulnerable and 'get rich quick schemes. Brighton & Hove Trading Standards Team also operate a "Rapid Action Team", that can deal with these rogues on the spot, and have already had considerable success. If you are a carer and are concerned about bogus callers, then you can read the leaflet "Keep an eye open for bogus callers" issued by the Home Office. This encourages good doorstep behaviour and aims to protect the elderly and the vulnerable by empowering them to deal with doorstep callers and promote independence.

Buy With Confidence - Trading Standards Approved is a new scheme launched to promote and support the good reliable tradesmen and businesses of Brighton & Hove, whilst in turn increasing consumer protection by providing an approved trader list. By clicking on the link you can check out the Buy With Confidence website here. Member companies have been independently checked by staff from the City Council's Trading Standards Service for compliance with the letter and the spirit of the law. The scheme is open to any business within the area covered by the City Council.

Only if a business can pass stringent checks and have signed up to the 'Commitment by Business', can they display the partnership logo. If you are a business and would like to join the scheme, read through the information for businesses and fill out the application form.

Find your local service at Trading Standards Central

Brighton & Hove City Council Trading Standards, Bartholomew House, Bartholomew Square, Brighton BN1 1JP.
Business Line: (01273) 292523 Fax: (01273) 292524 Electronic Mail: trading.standards@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Consumer Advice Line: 08454 04 05 06. Consumer Advice Electronic Mail: www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/contact_us.shtml

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