Trading Standards Service advises on and enforces a wide range of laws, which aim to ensure fair, safe and honest trading.
These laws mainly relates to the quantity, quality, price, description and safety of goods and services supplied by businesses. By enforcing these laws we can help protect you against unfair trading practices.
Departments within the Trading Standards Service are:
Community Safety
Our community Safety activities principally relate to action taken against those who engage in rogue trading activities and the sales of age-restricted products.
Fair Trading
We carry out a risk inspection programme and deal with complaints about a wide range of activities, e.g. property descriptions, consumer credit, prices, false statements made about goods and services.
Farm Animal Health and Welfare
To enforce farm animal health and welfare laws. For information on Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs you can visit the Defra website which is a UK Government Department (see related link below).
Food and Health
Food standards legislation is designed to ensure that consumers are adequately protected from misleading descriptions, adulterated or unsafe food.
Supporting consumers
Trading Standards exists to make sure you get a fair deal when you buy goods and services. For Consumer Advice contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or visit the Consumer Direct website (see related links below).
Supporting businesses
We also offer a wide range of support and guidance to help local businesses provide a good service to their customers. For more information use the contact details on the right or visit the Trading Standards website.
We are unable to give confidential information about individual business and we do not recommend or approve any particular business or trader.
Please visit the Trading Standards website (see related link below) to find out in depth the type of work we carry out and the services we provide.