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New law to stop rogue traders hiding behind accommodation addresses.Westminster Trading Standards officers have helped draft new legislation to give councils greater powers to regulate mail holding/ forwarding addresses whose services are frequently used by dishonest businesses and individuals in London.
Accommodation addresses as they are commonly called, are often in prestigious streets such as Harley Street, Piccadilly and Berkeley Square. Although most users are legitimate individuals or companies who use the address to hold or forward mail, evidence has emerged that the system is too often being used by rogue builders, dodgy competitions or lottery scams, investment swindles such as fine wine and paintings etc. Meanwhile, the police, customs and immigration authorities have encountered similar problems while investigating criminals involved in identity theft, smuggling and money laundering.
The City of Westminster has the highest concentration of accommodation addresses in the country.
Head of Trading Standards Sue Jones, said: “The use of these mail forwarding or accommodation addresses has been unregulated for a long time now and the result is that too many criminals are hiding behind them and avoiding detection by enforcement agencies – and therefore escaping justice. We realise that plenty of legitimate businesses provide and use these addresses without causing any problems at all – they have nothing to fear from this legislation.”
Ian Gibbor, Director of Lenta Properties Ltd and a Business Centre Association board member, was the first to register with the Council under the London Local Authorities Act 2007. He said: “This legislation is something we have been advocating for many years and we are happy that this has been put on a legal basis now rather than a voluntary one.”
Click here to view more information about the Act and its requirements.
On the 1st October 2007, the law controlling the sale of tobacco changed so that it is now an offence for any person to sell tobacco to a person under the age of 18 years, whether or not for the child’s own use.
For further information on the changes (including the updated warning notice) click here.
To alert small businesses of the changes, Westminster Trading Standards wrote to over 1,000 small retailers. We have also produced a limited number of updated warning notices.
If you are a Westminster business and need further advice, please click here.
Knife retailers should be aware that on the 1st October 2007, the age restriction for buying knives changed from 16 to 18.
It is now an offence for a person to sell the following to a person under the age of 18:
This restriction does not apply to folding pocket knives if the cutting edge of the blade is less than 3 inches or 7.62cm. Nor does it apply to replacement cartridges for safety razors, where less than 2mm of the blade is exposed.
Please click here to see further guidance.
Every day, people throughout the UK fall victim to a scam of one kind or another. These scams come in different forms - letters, email, telephone calls and text messages. It could be an unexpected prize draw or lottery win, or a chance to invest in an exciting new money-making scheme.
Westminster Trading Standards has raised awareness of these scams and undesirable practices through consumer education campaigns. These have included talking to the public (see photos above), producing leaflets and providing information on our website - click here to see our 'scams' page .
To raise awareness with internet users, in 2006 we launched a spoof 'scams' website. Click to see www.winmoneynow.co.uk.
As part of the Trading Standards' underage sales campaigns, officers have been educating retailers and checking on their compliance with the laws restricting the sale of certain products to underage persons.
Many of the campaigns have been delivered in partnership with the police and are directly linked to the Crime and Disorder Reduction and Anti Social Behaviour Strategies.
Since April 2007, our work has included:
To see further details of our recent education and enforcement work, click here.
If you have any information relating to sales of age restricted products to children in Westminster, please let us know by contacting us here.
For a number of years, Westminster City Council Trading Standards team have delivered a yearly "Doorstep Selling" campaign to various drop-in centres around Westminster. In partnership with the Police and Westminster Age Concern, officers from Trading Standards gave a series of talks to provide information to older residents about doorstep salesmen and "distraction” burglary.
Talks were held at various Age Concern drop-in centres in Westminster, including a special talk to the Chinese speaking community where a translator assisted with the presentation.
As it can be sometimes difficult for any resident, especially older people, to say no to salesmen - especially when they are standing on the doorstep - a special door hanger was produced to provide information and advice on how to deal with callers at the door. The hanger can be kept by the front door as a reminder.
The four key messages of the campaign are:
Please click here to see an example of the 5,000 special door hangers that are being distributed at the talks and through 50 advice agencies.
Note that to view the above document you may need to have installed the free Adobe Acrobat PDF reader. This can be obtained from the Adobe website.
The Government funded 'Consumer Direct' telephone helpline and website is now in operation in London. Consumer Direct provides help and advice for consumers in Great Britain and compliments the existing Westminster based consumer advice services.
To find out more, visit the Consumer Direct website by clicking here.
Theatre Tickets Awareness Campaign - "Going to a Show?"
Following the launch of our Theatre Ticket Awareness campaign during December 2004, we have received much media attention concerning the issues surrounding the resale of theatre tickets.
Westminster Trading Standards launched the 'Going to a Show?' campaign following many consumer complaints relating to the resale of theatre tickets. Consumers had complained to Trading Standards that some ticket agents were not disclosing the 'face value' of tickets or misleading them as to the seat's position or view from it.
The campaign tells purchasers of tickets, to check for important information if buying theatre tickets from agents. The campaign is also backed up by advisory and enforcement visits to ticket agents in Westminster.
Agents who resell theatre tickets should be giving consumers, before they buy, the following informaton:
As well as leaflet handouts in Leicester Square, many supporters, including VisitBritain and the US Embassy Consular Services, are distributing the leaflet. Many restaurants and retailers in the area are also stocking the leaflets.
To see "Enjoy the show - your guide to trouble-free ticket buying", click here.
Note that to view the above document you may need to have installed the free Adobe Acrobat PDF reader. This can be obtained from the Adobe website.
The campaign has been assisted by the Westminster City Council CCTV team and City Guardian patrols. The Planning Department are considering action against theatre ticket touts who are operating illegally whether on the street or doorways of nightclubs.
Ticket agents in and around Leicester Square have been visited by officers and advised on the requirements of the law. In some cases, these visits have or are being followed up by covert test purchases by undercover officers. Breaches of legislation are being investigated further.
Westminster Trading Standards have also been consulted by the Office of Fair Trading on this matter and contributed to their final report 'Ticket agents in the UK' , click here to see more information.
Below: Photos of the launch showing the distribution of leaflets.
In 2007, we repeated our education and enforcement campaign to help shops who sell fireworks comply with the law. Working with the police, Trading Standards alerted retailers to the dangers of storing fireworks inappropriately and warned them about the illegal selling of fireworks to persons under 18 year old.
For advice on the use of fireworks, please visit the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website
For advice on the sale of fireworks,please visit the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website.
If you have any information relating to sales of fireworks (or other age restricted products) to children in Westminster, please let us know - see contacting us.
The Trading Standards Service is registered to the Quality Standard ISO9001: 2000. Following a series of audits, the British Standards Institute remains satisfied that the Service can demonstrate compliance with the international quality standard and has formally certified it as such.
Previously the Service was registered to ISO9002:1994, which was a strict procedure based standard. The new standard however requires the registrant to demonstrate that they are identifying and trying to meet the needs of customers and that they are continuously improving their services.
In 2007, following a corporate assessment, the Audit Commission rated Westminster Council as improving strongly and demonstrating a 4 star overall performance. Westminster achieved excellent scores in nearly all areas, gaining maximum points in four out of five categories.
Previously in 2003, Westminster Trading Standards Service was specifically audited by the Audit Commission and assessed as providing an excellent three-star Service . The Commission delivered its report following a "Best Value" audit of the service. In reviewing the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Services, the commission said "We have assessed the Council as providing an excellent three-star Service that has excellent prospects for improvement".
We want you to enjoy shopping in Westminster. These tips should help you.
If you need any further advice or have a shopping related problem, please click here.
Every Christmas, Trading Standards Officers keep watch for unsafe toys being sold. Officers regularly inspect markets and shops to check toys that are being sold, to ensure they meet current safety legislation. Pictured here is a toy "gun" that failed safety requirements.
It was found on sale during a previous campaign.
Toys are generally much safer than they used to be, following the introduction of more stringent safety legislation. However, there are still non-compliant toys being sold, and officers are always careful to take action where they suspect that a toy could be dangerous.
When buying toys, shoppers should always check for the "CE" mark and relevant safety warnings. We recommend you don't buy toys from unlicensed street traders, people in pubs or car boot sales.
We want to know if you see any unsafe toys on sale in Westminster. For our contact details, see contacting us.
Our Service has donated a quantity of clothing to the Births Defects Charity, BDF Newlife, for re-use.
The clothing was seized during operations carried out by officers of Westminster Trading Standards. Having been verified as counterfeit by the appropriate experts, the items have either been forfeited at Court or their ownership has been signed over to this Service.
BDF Newlife re-uses the clothing by either removing any false trademarks or 'ragging' clothing for blankets. The operation is securely monitored. Any profits from the resale of clothing are used by the charity for research into birth defects or supporting families.