Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards is warning residents to be on their guard after unscrupulous telephone scammers attempted to con a grieving ex-serviceman out of half his savings. Last month retired Royal Navy serviceman Stephen Burgess, 64, from Frome in Somerset, was called by someone falsely claiming to be from Virgin Media. And he was on the verge of handing over £2,000 worth of iTunes vouchers before he became suspicious and severed all contact with the fraudster. The attempted scam began when the caller told Mr Burgess that Malware - software specifically designed to...
Residents in Devon and Torbay are being offered the chance to have an independent motor expert review the quality of a recent vehicle service.
The free quality check is part of Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service’s motor trade project, and is aimed at local residents who want assurances that their vehicle service was carried out properly.
The checks will take place in the Wellington area in Somerset on Saturday 22 September and Sunday 23 September 2018.
A vehicle expert will be on hand to carry out checks on vehicles recently serviced and checks...
Trading Standards is aiming to reduce the number of incidents in which babies and toddlers (under fives) are being accidently poisoned in Devon, Somerset and Torbay.
A recent report published by Public Health England shows that accidental poisoning is on the rise in the South West, with more children aged 0-4 being rushed to A&E. The report says that from 2014 to 2018 there were 186 emergency admissions in Devon, 206 in Somerset and 36 in Torbay because of accidental poisoning. Buy Wise Be safe is a campaign by Trading Standards South West, a partnership of 15 local authority...
One of a pair of convicted rogue builders has been ordered to pay back more than £11,000 of his illegal earnings.
John Carroll, 26, of Cricklade, who is serving 38-months in prison for fraud, and Swansea’s John Rice, 21, who has served a 12 week sentence for money laundering had conned a string of victims in South West England and Wales. At a hearing Judge Graham Cottle ruled that Rice had earned £28,950 by laundering Carroll’s illegal proceeds and ordered him to repay what remained in his possession, £11,650, which will go to his victims.
Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service is urging residents to only buy fireworks from reputable traders.
As the fireworks season approaches many people will consider buying fireworks for private functions to mark events including Halloween and Bonfire Night. When buying fireworks always look for the CE mark – fireworks must always display this as it shows the product has been designed and manufactured in accordance with the essential safety requirements. The service is also reminding traders that the legal minimum age for buying fireworks is 18 and if in doubt they...
Two trading standards services on different sides of the country have worked together to convict a rogue trader who preyed on the elderly and the vulnerable.
Self-employed gardener James Holmes, 29, has been sentenced to 200 hours community work after being found guilty of fraud. Holmes, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 12 July 2017. The court heard how Holmes had targeted elderly vulnerable people in Yaxley in Cambridgeshire, and Exeter, Devon, to get them to agree to have work carried out in their garden. In May an elderly Exeter...
Around 5,000 seized items of counterfeit clothes have been donated to the charity Planet Zero by Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service.
The mainly counterfeit goods, which include track suits, t-shirts, sweatshirts and trainers, are the result of seizures by trading standards officers across the area.
On Friday trading standards officers packed a lorry bound for the charity, which collects unwanted clothes for a good cause, full of clothes.
The clothes were stored at the service's secure compound in Somerset.
A used car dealer from Teignmouth has been found guilty of supplying a dangerous and unroadworthy vehicle with faulty brakes.
Jamie Stuart Rabin, 36, of Bank Street, Teignmouth, was ordered to pay a total of £6,594.25 in fines, costs, victim’s surcharge and compensation at Plymouth Magistrates Court on Thursday 8 June.
Rabin, who changed his plea at the last minute, sold the Renault Trafic Van in 2016 from his dealership, Finnish Car Sales, in Dawlish.
He also admitted misleading a customer into believing repairs had been carried out and claimed he had replaced the...
Parents are urged to follow the advice issued by the Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service when purchasing baby sleep bags after some brands failed quality tests.
Baby sleep bags are full length fabric bags with a neck opening and armholes but without sleeves or a hood. They are designed to keep the baby warm, when sleeping in a cot or Moses basket from Kidsco , without the need for extra bedding.
A product carrying the British Standard label can give consumers’ confidence that it meets the agreed specifications laid down in the standard.
Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service are reminding tobacco retailers that the time is up for old stocks of branded products.
When the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 came into force last year – introducing “plain packaging” for cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco – retailers were given 12 months to sell old stock.
That deadline expires tonight and from 20 May 2017 it will be illegal to sell packs that do not comply with the new rules.
Other changes in relation to tobacco are:
• The health warnings are increased in size • Packs...
