Local government reorganisation and devolution represents an opportunity to properly fund trading standards and stop ‘unsafe, dangerous goods’ being sold on high streets, says the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI).
The CTSI renewed its warning that local authority trading standards teams are critically underfunded after a Which? investigation exposed the ease with which children can access age-restricted products on the high street.
Teenage volunteers, aged 14 to 17, were recruited by the consumer watchdog and were sent into shops on a high street in the London Borough of Lambeth to try to buy vapes and book cosmetic procedures.
Wearing hidden cameras, they were able to successfully purchase nicotine vapes in five out of eight shops visited. In several instances, retailers failed to ask for any identification, even attempting to ‘upsell’ deals to the underage shoppers.
The investigation also revealed a lack of oversight in the aesthetics industry; a 17-year-old volunteer was able to book a lip filler appointment without being asked for proof of age, despite such procedures being illegal for under-18s in England.
Branding UK’s high streets as ‘lawless’, Which? is now calling for an ‘urgent and serious reform’ of the consumer enforcement system. The consumer champion highlighted that a ‘hollowing out’ of Trading Standards—with some areas having fewer than one officer per 100,000 people—has left the high street effectively unregulated and children at risk.
Responding to the investigation, CTSI Chief Executive, John Herriman, said: ‘With local government reorganisation and devolution underway across England, it is the time to act to promote, protect and invest in what matters: a local service that delivers for the consumer, the honest business, the economy and public health across the UK.
‘Without adequate investment in trading standards, we will continue to see unsafe, dangerous goods flooding the market, short measures of goods, unsafe food, disease outbreaks affecting both livestock and pets, a rise in doorstep crime, scams and fraud and many more.’
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