I have started a new thread as my old one was getting a trifle thin. This is a letter from LACORS (who used to be LACOTS) and signed by the new director a Mr. Derek Allen. He addressed me as "Dear Victoria". I have been told that he wishes to come over as a touchy feely person.
I am in receipt of your letter dated 15 April to Mr. Cull at these offices and would wish to inform you that I have recently taken up the position of Executive Director, replacing Mr. Cull.
The issue that you raise involve a number of considerations before enforcement action is contemplated by a local authority. Almost all authorities in the UK have signed up to the Government's enforcement concordat, producing enforcement priorities and policies and ensuring they take a proportionate approach to enforcement.
This involves determining how best to allocate finite resources to ensure quality services that meet the needs of their communities. Some authoriites may well wish to concentrate matters that could be directly harmful to consumers, such as unsafe toys, or matters involving fraud where customers can lose their life savings through investment scams.
Local authorities have regard to all matters which fall within their statutory remit and it is for them to decide how they will seek to provide the best consumer protection services bearing in mind all of the competing demands on their services and the wide range of consumer protection matters they have responsibility for.
As you will know, several authorities have already taken issue with a number of matters relating to metrication requirements and a considerable amount of resources have alrady been expended by them to date in bringing these matters before the Courts. The issues have been raised and are being resolved, either by further appeal to the House of Lords or by acceptance of the recent High Court decision in favour of the authorities concerned. It is likely that authorities are awaiting the final outcome of these cases before investigating any other alleged related infringements.
I cannot say whether a test case will be brought before the courts in relation to the matters to which you refer, and nor inded with regard to any other test case issue. It will be for any individual authority through its democratic process to decide whether it wishes to take action of any particular kind.
I would have to take issue with your suggestion that local authorities adopt different interpretational decisions between large and small traders. I am confident that the same conclusions are arrived at whether the trader be a small corner shopor indeed Tesco. I base this statement on the fact that many cases which have been instituted by trading standards authorities have been taken against the largest of organisation throughout the UK, including Tesco.
I hope that this reply will reassure you that local authorities are not dismissive of particular non-compliances but they are properly having to prioritse their resources and comply in many cases with the policies and priorities oftheir enforcement concordat.
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