A Guide to our Work

What do Trading Standards do?

The Trading Standards service consists of two sections, the Consumer Advice section and the Trading Standards Enforcement section.

What service can be expected from the Consumer Advice Centre?

Consumer Advice deal with civil laws concerned with the sale of goods and services. If you have a complaint about anything you have bought or work that you have had done or services that you have paid for that have not come up to scratch initially you contact Consumer Direct. Consumer Direct is the government-funded telephone and online service offering information and advice on consumer issues. Consumer Direct is funded by the Office of Fair Trading and delivered in partnership with Local Authority Trading Standards Services. Their contact number is 08564 04 05 06. The Consumer Direct website gives information on their service and links to lots of other useful consumer information.

If it is felt by Consumer Direct that additional help is needed with a complaint they will refer the matter to the Consumer Advice section where the Fair Trading Officers may be able to offer further assistance regarding letters, independent tests or County Court action. They cannot however make any trader take any action whether it be to carry out repairs or refund money.

If there appear to be breaches of criminal law, the fair trading officers can refer your complaint to the Trading Standards Enforcement section.

In addition to the above, the fair trading officers can give talks about their work to interested groups and have developed education initiatives with schools within the Salford area.

What can the Trading Standards Enforcement Section do?

The Enforcement section can investigate your complaint and, where appropriate, prosecute offending traders. They cannot guarantee to gain financial compensation for you. To gain financial compensation, you would have to take a successful action in the Civil Law Courts. In cases where prosecution is not appropriate, they can offer advice to traders in an attempt to prevent further breaches of the law.

What types of goods and services are covered by the Enforcement Section?

The Trading Standards Enforcement Section covers a wide range of laws. The following is a brief list of some of the main areas covered:

The sale of unroadworthy, clocked or otherwise misdescribed cars.
The sale of unsafe products such as toys, electrical items, gas appliances, cosmetics, upholstered furniture and nursery goods.
The sale of goods described as being gold, silver or platinum.
Aspects of credit transactions, such as advertisements, the amount of rebate given when loans are repaid early, credit reference agencies, debt collectors and unlicensed credit dealers.
Misdescriptions applied by traders selling property - but not those made by private sellers.
Offences relating to package holidays.
Misdescriptions applied to goods.
False statements relating to services provided, for example false claims of membership of a trade association
The sale of counterfeited goods such as clothing, perfume, computer software and audio/video cassettes.
Charging more for goods/services than indicated.
The sale of goods, for example, beer, petrol and food, which are less than the quantity declared.
The sale of food which is past its "use by" date - but note not those which have merely passed their "best before" date.
Watered spirits.
Other misdescribed foods.
Ensuring that shops do not display "No refunds" notices.
Overloaded vehicles.

Your checklist for dealing with Trading Standards

We can:

Give advice to consumers and traders alike
Provide you with guidance leaflets on a range of subjects
Provide you with specimen letters for you to copy and send
Write to a trader on your behalf and provide you with copies of those letters, if you request them
Give you advice about the types of independent evidence you will need to help you prove your case
Assist with completion of those forms
Prosecute traders who break criminal laws

We cannot:

Force traders to refund your money
Take action on your behalf in the Civil Law Courts
Recommend traders to you
Tell you how many complaints we have received against a particular trader
Pay for any independent evidence you may need to pursue a claim, where there is no evidence of a criminal offence

This page was last updated on 3 October 2009