Take if from the man who made a career out of catching and confronting rogue traders – cuts to trading standards services are serious and pose a direct threat to consumer safety. During our annual conference last week, journalist and presenter Matt Allwright said that taking money from trading standards is a false economy. Not…
We’re back from our conference which was BRILLIANT! Harrogate was sunny and displaying a fantastic array of thousands of woolly Tour de France yellow, green and spotted jerseys! There were bikes stencilled onto windows, carved into trees, painted yellow and dangling from every railing and house front. Even the famous Bettys tea shop rose to the…
The final countdown to Conference is upon. TSI CEO Leon Livermore tells us what to expect. I’m sitting at a service station travelling from TSI’s head office in Basildon to Harrogate to Conference, which is just a few hours away. It has been a tough few years for our profession. We’ve seen unprecedented cuts and…
Not even a month after Road Safety Week and TyreSafe is with TSI at its annual Conference in Harrogate. Safety is not a nine-to-five, 20-days of holiday a year vocation. It’s a 24/7, 365 issue which is why dangerous and illegally sold part worn tyres will be one of the key topics at this year’s…
You’d be hard pressed to find a family name more familiar with the Trading Standards Institute’s (TSI) annual Conference and exhibition than Wragg. Wragg is the familial powerhouse behind Wragg Bros., a metal fabricating company based in Wickford, Essex. Why does Wragg Bros. matter to trading standards? Aside from the holding the title of most…
Nothing is easier than child’s play, right? Think again. Child Safety Week launches today (23 June) with the aim of educating families about accident prevention and keeping their child safe from preventable injuries, such as safety oversights in the morning rush to get to school and work. Injuries can result from too much rushing, but…
In a quick, action packed half-hour, Suffolk County Council trading standards will discuss ‘Operation Troy’ at the annual TSI Conference. The investigation and subsequent arrest of a multinational gang that conned UK consumers out of an estimated £5.7 million will start at 9.20 on Wednesday 2 July. Here’s a sneak peek. Operation Troy was a…
In addition to three riveting plenaries, this year’s Trading Standards Institute Conference (TSI) includes more than 40 mini theatres hosted by a range of partners. The agenda? The Elliott Review; collaborative working; consumer data; the Consumer Rights Bill; and teeth whitening. Always wide ranging, always fascinating. Thursday 1 July, South West England Regional Co-ordinators of Trading…
Remote controlled submarines. Rocket-firing hovercrafts. A water-spraying octopus. Don’t worry – we haven’t lost the plot: this is the Trading Standards Institute’s (TSI) annual Playsafe competition. Once a year, teams of children and teenagers from around the country pit their design skills against one another in a competition designed to not only to test their imagination, but to also teach…
Turn off your smart phone for a second. Good. Now, what is the chemical symbol for zinc? Which method of farming doesn’t use synthetic inputs? If you have an offer to borrow money with zero APR what will you not have to pay? Finally, which bureaux gives advice about consumer issues? You’ve got 10 seconds.…
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