Summer 2012 - Trading Standards Institute

News from Gloucestershire County Council Trading Standards Service Summer 2012
The 2012 Olympic Games are almost
upon us. An estimated global audience
of around 4 billion people will watch
the opening ceremony on 27 th July,
with approximately 30 million visitors
expected during 2012.
Unfortunately this also presents
opportunities for those looking to make
money from the event, and Trading
Standards is gearing up to deal with the
inevitable increase in opportunist scams
and crimes. In particular the public is
being warned about dodgy websites,
counterfeit clothing, fake tickets and
misdescribed accommodation; and
people are advised to choose shopping
outlets and websites carefully and look for
authentic branding and holograms.
People are also being warned to look out
for scam letters which use the Olympic
and London 2012 logos, and tell
recipients they have won a prize of
£525,000. The letters claim that all
recipients have to do is return a payment
processing form with their personal
details to receive the full sum of money.
However, the criminal gangs operating
the scam hope to use these personal
details to carry out identification theft.
New rules have been introduced to
combat illegal street trading and ambush
marketing and to protect the official
The torch makes its way up London Road
Olympic symbols and logos. The law
gives the London Organising
Committee of the Olympic Games
(LOCOG) the sole right to use these
symbols for trade purposes. Fake
products undermine LOCOG‟s ability
to raise the £2bn needed to stage the
games but are also likely to be of
inferior quality and not meet stringent
safety standards.
We are offering advice to businesses
on how to avoid falling foul of the law
on Olympic brand protection. Look for
the leaflet in the business advice
section of our website entitled „Staying
legal during the London Olympics‟.
Olympic flame comes to
Gloucestershire
On 23 rd and 24 th May the Olympic Torch
passed through the county. Trading
Standards Officers were on hand to deter
illegal street trading and to ensure that the
rules protecting LOCOG‟s use of Olympic
symbols were being complied with. Working
closely with the police and district councils,
officers helped ensure the event passed off
without a hitch. The torch makes another
brief appearance in the county on 1 st July.
Eddie Coventry
Head of Trading
Standards, said:
“There are going
to be a lot of
people coming
to the UK for
the Olympic
and Paralympic Games keen to
be a part of the greatest sporting
event in the world. Unfortunately
the Games also present
opportunities to criminals who
will try to sell fraudulent tickets,
fake merchandise, and
accommodation or hotel rooms
that don't exist. We do not want
counterfeiters and criminals to
tarnish the event by ripping
people off and disadvantaging
honest businesses.
We will continue to monitor
trading activities around the
Olympics; our aim is not to be
heavy handed but if it is clear
that unauthorised use of Olympic
paraphernalia is a deliberate
attempt to cash in we are ready
to take action.”
inside
The Advice Squad
Brief Cases
New role for CAB
Fake jewellery seized
Pony roundup
Do it online
Storing petrol
Fake wine
www .tradi ngs tandards .g ov.uk/gl os

Martin gives advice on consumer law
Consumer Direct helpline now
run by Citizens Advice
The Citizens Advice consumer
service took over responsibility for
providing consumer advice and
information from Consumer Direct
on 1 April 2012.
As part of the government‟s
spending review the Consumer
Direct helpline has been taken over
by the Citizens Advice Bureau, a
charity, and the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT) is being stripped of
its consumer protection role and is
to be merged with the Competition
Commission.
Trading standards services are
being asked to deal with the OFT's
previous high-profile work in taking
on major consumer issues.
Consumers seeking advice should
contact the Citizens Advice
consumer helpline in the first
instance which will forward serious
cases on to trading standards - we
will no longer be able to offer a
walk-in service to consumers.
The helpline can be contacted on
08454 04 05 06, or online.
Your right to cancel
Case 1: A consumer took out a 2 year
extended warranty on a new boiler. When the
policy was due for renewal he initially agreed
to extend it further but on reflection wrote
several times to the company to cancel. The
company ignored his requests. John took up
the case and the company then sent out a
refund cheque.
Case 2: An elderly consumer paid a
substantial deposit to a building firm to install
garage doors. The contract had been signed
at home during a salesperson‟s visit. The
company did not start work on the agreed
day and ignored the consumer‟s messages.
Helen investigated and found the company
was still trading and that the consumer had
not been given cancellation rights. The
company agreed to refund the consumer.
The shop offered to take some of the
furniture away but this would leave the
consumer with an incomplete suite.
After discussing the complaint with Liz
the retailer agreed to supply a suitable
suite and refund the customer the
difference in price.
Suite success
Usually when you buy at
home or online you will have
a right in law to cancel the
contract. Consumers have
up to 14 days to cancel
agreements to purchase
financial products, which
include extended warranties.
The refund should be made
within 30 days of the notice
of cancellation.
When you agree to work
during a trader‟s visit to your
home you should in most
cases be given a written
notice of a right to cancel. If
the work is to start within the
7 day cooling off period the
trader must also get you to
agree in writing for the work
to go ahead.
Liz dealt with a complaint about furniture that
did not fit into a consumer‟s living room. The
consumer had given accurate measurements
of the room to the sales assistant and was
assured that the suite would fit – it didn‟t.
Normally it is the consumer‟s
responsibility to ensure that furniture
ordered will fit, but in this case the
consumer relied on the care and skill
of the staff in making her decision
and was specifically assured by the
salesperson that it would fit. The fact
that it did not meant the shop was in
breach of contract.
Mag ads
A trader was surprised to receive a
demand for payment for an advertisement
in a magazine. He queried it and was given
the name of an employee who had agreed
to the advertisement. However the
employee had not been in work on the day
the agreement was said to have been
made. The demands for payment continued
with threats of legal action. Paul was able to
reassure the trader that it would be up to
the publisher to produce evidence that a
contract had been agreed.
We hear from a lot of businesses
who are contacted in this way. If a
business has agreed to an
advertisement it will be liable for
payment, there is no right to cancel,
but we are aware of many bogus
publishing companies who will phone
to offer their services and then use
any information they gather to assert
that a contract has been formed with
escalating threats of action to attempt
to persuade the trader to pay up.

iefCASES
some of the cases brought before the courts since the last issue
Illegal tobacco
SEIZED IN
Following a Trading Standards investigation, Soran Talibani, 33, and Sako
Fatahi, 32, of Gloucester Groceries, Station Road, Gloucester appeared in
court in March to face charges of supplying illegal tobacco, some of which
was counterfeit, between August and December 2011.
Approximately 22,000 cigarettes and 40kg of hand rolling
tobacco was seized in a number of raids, which included the
use of a specialist sniffer dog to uncover cigarettes hidden
inside a storage heater.
Both defendants pleaded guilty, Talibani was found guilty of all
25 charges, while Fatahi was found guilty of 17 charges.
They were later sentenced to prison terms of 36 weeks
and 30 weeks respectively.
Counterfeit DVDs
Sen Qiang Lin, 30, of Springfield Road,
Birmingham was caught selling counterfeit films
and tobacco at Southam car boot sale in the
summer of 2010.
Soon after he was caught again selling DVDs
in the street in Cheltenham. He admitted that he
had previously been issued with a caution and a
suspended sentence for selling counterfeit goods.
When he was caught in Cheltenham, his suspended sentence was still in
force and he therefore breached the conditions that applied. Over 500
DVDs, some not classified by the British Board of Film Classification
(BBFC), were seized as well as 49 pouches of counterfeit tobacco.
Mr Lin pleaded guilty to eleven charges, one for selling counterfeit tobacco;
nine for selling counterfeit DVDs and one for selling un-classified DVDs.
The penalty was 160 hours unpaid work and he was asked to pay £200
towards prosecution costs. He was also given a 12 week prison sentence
which was suspended for 18 months.
Unqualified electrician
Levi Kelly, trading as LSK Electricals Ltd, appeared at
Cheltenham Magistrates Court in February to plead guilty
to misleading customers regarding his qualifications and
approval.
The court heard how Mr Kelly had told a consumer that he
was competent to carry out electrical work to Part P
requirements and issued a bogus certificate of compliance with
the standard. Part P is a standard of installation which ensures
that electrical installations are safe. Consumers who have
installation work which is not signed off by a competent installer
can face additional cost in having the work redone or confirmed
as meeting safety requirements.
The defendant was ordered to pay a contribution of £100 to
Trading Standards court costs and £326 to the consumer involved.
Fake Pandora jewellery with an
estimated retail value if genuine
of at least £500,000 was seized
from a property in Gloucester in
February.
The raid was carried out by
trading standards assisted by
Gloucestershire police and
followed receipt of information
about a trader believed to be
supplying counterfeit jewellery,
claiming to be Pandora. The
jewellery was being sold through
Amazon and other websites.
A representative from Pandora‟s
investigation team, TM-Eye, also
assisted in the raid.
Similar counterfeit silver jewellery
seized in 2011 by trading
standards was found to contain
higher than permitted levels of
nickel. We are now establishing
whether these fake products pose
a safety risk to consumers.
Cllr Will Windsor-Clive, Cabinet
Member for Communities, said:
“Congratulations to our Trading
Standards service for yet another
effective investigation which will
bring benefits to reputable
businesses and consumers
throughout the county.

Animal Health Officers were called to assist earlier in the year when 4
ponies were found wandering around Waterwells Business Park. The
officers went to the site and worked with police to ensure that the
ponies did not come to any harm.
The animals were very nervous but after a lot of patient work, they
were eventually tethered with the help of staff from the Equestrian
centre. Officers arranged for a charity to take care of the ponies while
attempts were made to locate the owners who had abandoned them.
Wine connoisseurs in the county have
been urged to be on the lookout for
illegal wine.
The request comes after officers, acting
on a complaint from a member of the
public, seized a quantity of illegal wine
after visiting a Cheltenham restaurant.
The wine was labelled Pinot Grigio
produced in Bulgaria. All wine should
have the producer details and the region
of production on the label, but this
information was missing on the illegal
bottles. Please call if you have been
supplied with this illegal wine to help us
in our investigation.
Poisons sellers and firework retailers can now
apply and pay for their licences online thanks to
the new interactive web features introduced by
Gloucestershire County Council.
The online forms aim to provide applicants with
a step by step user-friendly way of applying for
a licence. We hope in due course to make all
our licence applications available in this way.
This is in line with the policy of reducing costs
by enabling our customers to use our services
via the web rather than by direct contact.
One of the functions of Trading Standards is the licensing of petrol
storage in the county. We are often asked how much fuel can be stored
at home before a licence is necessary. This was particularly true during
the recent threat of a tanker drivers‟ strike when a government minister
advised keeping a „couple of jerry cans in the garage‟.
Storing fuel presents a potential hazard. Petrol and other fuels give off
vapour which are extremely flammable and should be treated with the
utmost care.
Storage of fuel at home or the workplace, unless licensed, is restricted
by law to either metal containers with a maximum capacity of 10 litres
or approved plastic containers of a maximum 5 litres capacity. These
containers should be designed for the purpose and must be fitted with a
screw cap or closure to prevent leakage of liquid or vapour. Petrol and diesel fuel should be stored in no more than two
10 litre metal containers or two 5 litre plastic containers. They should be clearly labelled to indicate their contents.
Petrol filling stations operate under licence conditions, which do not allow drivers to dispense fuel into other types of
container. At home, fuel containers must not be stored in living accommodation such as kitchens, living rooms and
bedrooms or under staircases. Any storage place should be well away from living areas in case of fire and it should be
secured, to protect against the possibility of vandalism or arson.
If you have any enquiries about InBRIEF please contact Simon Doble at tradstds@gloucestershire.gov.uk
For more information visit our website at: www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/glos