Trading standards - fair trading

The Fair Trading team will, through enforcement, advice and education, develop informed, confident consumers and endeavour to ensure competitive and successful, local businesses.

• Consumer Direct is the government-funded telephone and online service offering information and advice on consumer issues.  The advice and information they give is free and you can call as many times as you need to.  Consumer Direct is available on a single national telephone number - 08454 04 05 06  from 0800 to 1830 Monday to Friday, and 0900 to 1300 Saturday, excluding bank holidays and public holidays.
  Minicom users can call 08451 28 13 84.
  Calls to the Consumer Direct 0845 numbers are charged at no more than four pence per minute from a BT landline. Call charges from other landline providers or mobile phones may vary. Please check the rate with your phone service provider. The link on the right will take you to their website.

• The Office of Fair Trading is a government department who's mission is 'to make markets work well for consumers'. They look at competition between traders, investigate rogue traders, deal with scams and provide general advice on how consumers can deal with problems and protect themselves.  They cannot provide advice or assistance to individual consumers or traders. The link on the right will take you to their website.