A WARNING has been issued to people not to buy goods from people who they do not know or trust.
The advice from Worcestershire Trading Standards follows a number of recent incidents where shop owners claimed to have bought unsafe or counterfeit goods from ‘an unknown man in a van’.
Coun Matt Dormer, cabinet member with responsibility for communities, said: “I would urge shop owners to think again if they are being offered goods below market price by somebody they don’t know.”
Traders are being told it is best practice to keep details from where goods have been purchased, and wherever possible evidence of compliance with the relevant regulations and standards.
Failure to comply with the laws may result in criminal proceedings and a fine.
Simon Wilkes, head of Worcesershire Regulatory Services (WRS), added: “There is only one winner in these situations and it’s not the child who gets the latest toy or the smoker who gets cheap cigarettes, or the retailer who ends up in court.
“It’s the chancer and ‘fly by nights’ who sell this stuff and in the case of counterfeit goods.”
Anyone who encounters illegal or counterfeit goods or illicit tobacco can report shops anonymously via keep-it-out.co.uk or the fake goods via Anonymous Hotline – CEnTSA.
