The trading standards service makes a big difference to our health and welfare. It delivers the standards by which we can live without fear of becoming a victim of fraud or other criminal activity. Trading standards professionals are powerful people; they have the power to enforce the law that governs the way we buy, sell and hire goods and services. Through them, consumers are protected from shady and dangerous practices and honest businessmen are able to trade openly in a fair and competitive market.

Until we stop to think about it, most of us take a lot of things about buying and selling for granted. We expect things to be safe and fit for the purpose, we expect our food to be safe too, and we don’t expect to be cheated or defrauded in any way.

Sometimes though, it doesn’t work out quite that way and that’s when we’re glad that trading standards departments are there, acting on behalf of consumers and businesses alike. It’s essential work and deals with all sorts of problems - often things we’ve all experienced or perhaps heard about. For example, pubs or garages that serve short measures of beer or petrol, retailers that sell dangerous toys, farmers who mistreat their animals, street traders who sell dodgy DVDs or people who serve you food that you wouldn’t want to eat if you really knew what was in there!

Trading standards professionals (TSPs) protect us from these illegal trade practices; chasing fakes, frauds and scams no matter where they arise and no matter how big the villains are.