Rogue traders targeted by national week of action
Shropshire Council’s public protection service has been taking action to target rogue traders as part of a week-long national enforcement and awareness initiative.
Operation Rogue Trader is an annual week of activity co-ordinated by Operation Liberal, the national distraction burglary intelligence unit, the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Rogue traders are individuals or groups of people who cold-call householders, often targeting vulnerable residents, claiming to be a bona fide business and purporting to offer services, most commonly buildings maintenance and repair.
The offenders charge excessive fees for the work, yet the work that is carried out is either substandard or not carried out at all.
Across the UK, police forces, trading standards officials and partner agencies have undertaken a wide range of work to identify and arrest rogue traders, to disrupt the activity of rogue trading and to make communities aware of this type of crime.
That includes everything from carrying out works vehicle checks and inspecting local employers, to recovering property and delivering crime prevention messages.
So far this week (Monday 7 April 2014 to Friday 11 April 2014) public protection officers and West Mercia Police have carried out a series of neighbourhood patrols across the county and taken part in a multi-agency vehicle check. In Shrewsbury, a local man known to public protection officers and with convictions for doorstep selling and fraud offences was stopped by police en route to a job. The van he was using had no insurance or tax and was seized by police, and the man will be reported for motoring offences.
Elsewhere, checks have been carried out on dozens of traders stopped during the patrols and at a multi-agency roadside check in Craven Arms. Whilst most have proved to be legitimate traders, others have been warned as to their trading practices and advised how to trade within the law.
As well as the patrols and trader checks, training materials have been given to banks, to help raise awareness of the issue and to assist them to identify potential victims of doorstep crime.
Frances Darling, service manager for public protection’s safer and stronger communities, said:
“This is another example of the excellent partnership work that public protection officers, West Mercia Police and other agencies do to disrupt and deter rogue traders from targeting Shropshire residents. Sadly, some traders will still prey on the vulnerable. Remember, doorstep crime is not only restricted to driveway work, gardening, roofing and guttering scams, these criminals will also make a telephone call first to make appointments to sell other products or services, including overpriced mobility aids, beds, alarm systems, solar panels and more.”
Public protection’s advice to consumers is always:-
- don’t sign on the spot – consider carefully whether you want the goods or services
- always shop around for the best price
- be wary of special offers or warnings about the state of your home
- don’t hand over a cash deposit
- don’t agree to a trader starting any work straight away
- do talk to someone you trust for a second opinion
- do consult the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Trader Register https://www.traderregister.org.uk/shropshire/index.php.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for public protection, said:
“Tackling rogue traders is a priority for our public protection team; unscrupulous rogues and distraction burglars can have a devastating impact on people’s lives, and their activities are often linked to a vast network of crime. Partnership working is an integral part of tackling the scourge of rogue traders – work that is carried out relentlessly by numerous agencies throughout the year. Initiatives like Operation Rogue Trader provide an important opportunity to raise awareness and to empower consumers to say no to cold-callers.”
Steve Playle, the Trading Standards Institute’s lead officer for doorstep crime, said:
“Operation Rogue Trader is a fantastic initiative that brings together trading standards officers and police officers in order to tackle the menace of criminals who cause enormous emotional distress and massive financial detriment to so many householders across the country. The activities of cold-calling home maintenance rogues are often linked to the activities of distraction burglars and all the evidence shows that it is the elderly and vulnerable who are deliberately targeted by this crime. The simple message from trading standards is to always say ‘no’ to any traders offering to carry out work who unexpectedly turn up on your doorstep.”
Deputy Chief Constable Peter Goodman, strategic director of Operation Liberal, said:
“I’m delighted that West Mercia Police has been participating in Operation Rogue Trader this week. The operation has become a well-established week of partnership activity, co-ordinated by Operation Liberal and the Trading Standards Institute.
“Rogue trading is a pattern of offending which deliberately targets the most vulnerable members of our communities, and most often the elderly. Rogue traders can often travel considerable distances and between force areas to carry out their crimes.
“Offenders can be both plausible and intimidating in order to convince their victims to pay prices which are often well above what should normally be charged and certainly does not reflect the work that is carried out, if it is carried out at all.
“We need to get crime prevention messages about rogue trading not just to householders, but to whole communities as well as to relatives and friends, particularly of elderly residents. The golden rule is that if you are not sure who is at the door, don’t open it. If you have any suspicions at all about cold-callers or traders operating in your community, please call your police force on 101.”
* Calls to 101 cost 15p for the entire call from both mobile phones and landlines
** Please note some mobile phone service providers may charge for this call.
Further information
Trading Standards Institute (TSI)
TSI is a training and membership organisation that has represented the interests of the trading standards profession since 1881 nationally and internationally. They aim to raise the profile of the profession while working towards fairer, better informed and safer consumer and business communities.
TSI’s members are engaged in delivering frontline trading standards services in councils and in businesses. www.tradingstandards.gov.uk
Operation Liberal
All forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are members of Operation Liberal. Operation Liberal supports national investigations into distraction burglaries and doorstep crime, and associated travelling criminality (please note that this should not be confused with the traveller community).
The unit identifies and analyse crime series and monitors intelligence on criminals and organised crime groups who travel throughout the UK to commit these crime types.
This collaborative approach solves more crimes and sends a message to the criminals who commit this type of crime that they will face a nationally co-ordinated investigation and as a result they can expect significant sentences.
Operation Liberal works with many partner agencies including Water UK, Energy UK, Trading Standards, Crimestoppers and the Home Office.
Victims of distraction burglary and rogue trading tend to be elderly and vulnerable and can suffer terribly both emotionally and physically after an offence.
