Please introduce yourself, and what your role is.
My name is Robert Gardner and I manage the trading standards team for the London Borough of Lambeth. I qualified as a Trading Standards Officer in 1991 and have worked in Wandsworth, Southwark, and for a short while in Croydon. I also worked in the Financial Services Authority before coming to Lambeth in 2000. I am also a Borough resident and have been for 28 years.

Can you explain what Trading Standards is?
We are a statutory service, which means the council is obliged to operate a trading standards team, concerned with the prevention and detection of crime. In the past we were primarily concerned with weights and measures but over the years we have been given more and more legal responsibilities and now enforce over 70 Acts of Parliament with attendant regulations. For example we might be enforcing simple price marking one day, to raiding a factory turning out counterfeit DVD’s the next, whilst advising a trader on how they can make their products safer. It’s an incredibly varied job and can be fantastically rewarding in terms of job satisfaction.

In what way does your department directly affect residents?
It’s a tough job to deal with all the demands of a borough the size and complexity of Lambeth. To make sure that we make the best use of resources we have chosen 4 themes that we have prioritized and focused on over the last 2 or 3 years. In short these are to tackle rogue traders, deal with unsafe products, thwart counterfeiting and reduce the level underage sales of knives, alcohol, cigarettes and fireworks.
How big of a role does Trading Standards have within Lambeth?For a small team I believe we have a big impact. Residents can often find stories related to the work we are doing in Lambeth Life whether it is arranging free food deliveries to a homeless charity in exchange for counterfeit materials ( to be reprocessed for more legitimate uses) or reporting on undercover test purchase activities in the bars and cafes in Clapham. We often work with Police and we have a reputation for delivering results.

What is the best way for residents to report concerns to Trading Standards?
All our complaints are first referred to Consumer Direct who offer free expert individual consumer advice. We are notified of all complaints and if it is a serious criminal matter we will investigate further. To contact Consumer Direct ring 08454 040506, there is also a link and further information on the Council’s website.

What advice would you give to residents before purchasing a high value item?
It depends somewhat on the item. If you log onto to the councils website and find the trading standards section you will find a selection of information and advice pages which will give step by step advice. The link is: http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Lambeth.WebApps.TradingStandards/AdviceConsumers.aspx

What does community mean to you?
The oxford dictionary defines community as: A group of people living together in one place. 2 (the community) the people of an area or country considered collectively; society. 3 a group of people with a common religion, race, or profession: the scientific community. 4 the holding of certain attitudes and interests in common.
On this basis I belong to several different communities all at one time but the most pertinent for me is the first part of the definition.
Can you explain what rights consumers have after purchasing goods, and the statutory guarantee which comes with all goods.There is no statutory guarantee that comes with the purchase of goods, other than that offered by a manufacturer as an inducement for a sale. However in every normal retail purchase the consumer has certain statutory rights the most of important of which is that the item must be of ‘satisfactory quality’. There is more at our website which goes into far greater detail:
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Lambeth.WebApps.TradingStandards/Detail_AdviceConsumers.aspx?DocumentNo=122526&Classification=Goods_leaflets

In your opinion, what benefit does a No Cold Calling Zone (NCCZ) bring to a community?
The principal benefit to setting up a ‘no cold calling zone’ is that raise awareness of some of the most pernicious crimes that are committed in the Borough. Every so often we receive reports of elderly or otherwise vulnerable people who have been robed of almost every penny by bogus traders in their own homes. It is a common story; the trader door stepping a victim, gaining their trust, asking for huge sums in cash for minor shoddy repairs or sometimes no work at all and then disappearing.  It is the cruelest of crimes leaving victims debilitated and isolated, whilst the perpetrators frequently get away never to be traced or brought to justice.  We hope that in setting up the zones people are forewarned of the dangers and have the courage and support of community to say no to cold callers.

What CD would you have at home in your CD player at the moment?
Selected tracks from Ennio Morricone’s film scores (e.g. “For a fistful of dollars”, “The Mission” etc).   Do you think enough is being done by trading standards to ensure that weights and measures are fair and legal?The importance of weights and measures cannot be overestimated everything we buy from food to fuel is either weighed or measured – just imagine if it wasn’t! In the UK I think we can be assured that almost all bona fide traders will weigh and measure fairly and accurately, but as raw materials get scarcer and more expensive there will always be a temptation to cut corners. However, currently we get very few complaints of short measure in the Borough.

What do you think is the most important aspect to be a Trading Standards Officer?
I think it is the ability to listen.

If you could adapt your role or trading standards, what would you introduce?
If money was no object I would like to reintroduce a comprehensive consumer and business advice service that could give deeper levels of advice and support to residents, particularly those who are more vulnerable and a service that could provide quick and assessable advice free to traders.

Do you think Trading Standards Officers have enough power to tackle product counterfeiting?
Yes, I think we do, we have very significant powers of entry and inspection and should we really need we can search computers, filing systems bank accounts etc. Counterfeiting is often associated with serious organized crime and we cannot operate against it without sufficient powers, which we only use legally and proportionately.

If you could choose any other department with Lambeth Council to work in, what would it be and why?
I think the role of Town Centre Manager is one that I would really enjoy.

At what point should members of our community contact Trading Standards?
Whenever they have a consumer law related matter
How important do you feel it is to educate the community in understanding their consumer rights?I think it is very important the more people know the less likely it is that rogues will exist. We want to see educated consumers and safe prosperous businesses.

How many people are in the Trading Standards Team?
8, including me.

Can you give your top five tips that are relevant to residents for ensuring they are getting a good service from local businesses? Shop around, always look for the best deal but never go solely on price.
For big purchases think about after sales service.
Check the small print, if it’s too good to be true then it probably isn’t.
Do some research, the web can be a wonderful thing, if you use Google remember to get a specific search to put “-” around the term or name.
Don’t be reticent about coming forward we can only act if we have the information.

Can you explain what TrustMark is?
Trustmark is a not for profit, government backed, initiative to help consumers find reliable and trustworthy tradesmen to carry out repairs inside and outside the home. It is widely supported by consumer protection organisations and the building industry.

Lambeth trading standards are proud to support the initiative and consumer can find further information on our website entry.
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Lambeth.WebApps.TradingStandards/