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Trading Standards Specialist Solicitors

If you are accused of a Trading Standards offence, you should seek advice from a Trading Standards specialist immediately.

Breaching Trading Standards regulations can have serious consequences, including substantial fines and even imprisonment, which is why having a Trading Standards specialist on your side is essential.

Being the subject of a Trading Standards investigation can be confusing, stressful and extremely daunting. Understanding why you are being investigated and what action to take, is one of the main roles of a Trading Standards specialist.

A Trading Standards specialist will guide you through the process and work with you to minimise the impact of a Trading Standards investigation on your business and your personal life, keeping disruption to a minimum.

Positive outcome

With a Trading Standards specialist on your side, you can rest safe in the knowledge that you have done everything that you can to increase the chances of the investigation resulting in a positive outcome for you and your company.

Get the best advice

The role of a Trading Standards specialist does not stop with those who are the subject of Trading Standards investigations. A Trading Standards specialist can also advise you how to ensure you are complying with the most up-to-date regulations, so that you do not fall foul of the law and inadvertently open your company up to prosecution.

What do I need to know about Trading Standards?

If a consumer believes that a business has acted unfairly or broken the law, then they can report them to Trading Standards.

Trading Standards can then decide whether or not they will open an investigation into the business in question.

The main purpose of Trading Standards is to ensure that products being sold are safe (with appropriate age restrictions, if necessary) and to enforce fair trading.

For example, a consumer could report a business to Trading Standards if they were sold a dangerous or fake product. They may also report a business who tried to stop them from using their legal rights (telling them they couldn’t return faulty goods, for example) or a business who wasn’t being honest about the price (adding extra costs at the point of sale, for example).

Trading Standards works with various different bodies including the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

What are the Trading Standards laws?

Trading Standards legislation actually covers a range of different offences, which is why it is vital to seek the advice of a Trading Standards specialist to help you understand exactly what could be viewed as a Trading Standards breach.

Businesses which are involved with supplying goods or services to consumers (or manufacturing goods) must be aware of Trading Standards laws and should consider speaking to a Trading Standards specialist.

Investigations conducted by Trading Standards can deal with anything from companies selling fake goods to businesses breaching copyright or trademark laws.

Failure to comply with Trading Standards rules can lead to prosecution. If you are informed that you are to be prosecuted for breaking Trading Standards laws, you must seek advice from a Trading Standards specialist, if you have not already done so.

What areas of my business does Trading Standards concern?

The scope of Trading Standards regulations is wide and can cover a large number of different areas of a company. This is why it is vital to fully understand your obligations, with the help of a Trading Standards specialist, if necessary.

Trading Standards impacts everything from food labelling to advertising and sales. Trade descriptions, weights and measures and licensing are also affected.

In order to fully understand which parts of your business are impacted by Trading Standards, it is crucial to employ the services of a Trading Standards specialist.

Why do I need a Trading Standards specialist?

If you are being prosecuted for breaching Trading Standards regulations, a Trading Standards specialist can guide you through the process and help to keep disruption to a minimum.

If you are at all unsure about your obligations under Trading Standards laws, a Trading Standards specialist can work with you to ensure that you are fully compliant in order to avoid potential prosecution in the future.

What happens if I am prosecuted for breaching Trading Standards and how can a Trading Standards specialist help?

Punishments for breaching Trading Standards can be severe. The penalty you will receive will depend upon the offence that you have committed.

These can range from cautions and fines to a prison sentence. Being found to have not complied with Trading Standards regulations can have serious consequences for a company’s reputation. This can, of course, severely impact potential future business and can cause potential customers to take their business elsewhere.

What’s more, Trading Standards may seek to recover more money from the person accused of the breach after the conclusion of the court case. This can happen if Trading Standards believe that the person financially benefited from non-compliance of the Trading Standards laws.

The fact that prosecutions can, and do, result in these serious penalties is why having a Trading Standards specialist on your side, whether that is simply in an advisory capacity or during an investigation, is so vital.

Do I need a Trading Standards specialist if I am the subject of a Trading Standards investigation?

It is highly advisable to seek assistance from a Trading Standards specialist if you are the subject of a Trading Standards investigation. A Trading Standards specialist can ensure that you take the right action at the right time and will work with you to achieve the best possible outcome for you and your business.

What can I do if I am accused of breaching Trading Standards?

Preparing your case is the top priority. A Trading Standards specialist can advise you of the next steps you need to take and will help you to navigate through the often complex range of regulations involved.

Having a Trading Standards specialist and their expertise in this area of law on your side, is invaluable. A Trading Standards specialist will ensure that your business operations and your rights are being protected, and any damage to your company is kept to a minimum.

Client was on bail for assaulting his infant son. Social services reported the claim, but there was no evidence, only the mother’s statement that the boy was injured by evening. Client explained the injury occurred when the boy fell off a bouncy castle, which was confirmed by four family members. By obtaining statements and submitting them to the police, we demonstrated the lack of evidence, and the case was dropped with no further action.


My client was accused of historic domestic abuse allegations. The police provided written disclosure in advance of an interview, and we were able to go through this and provide a four-page statement detailing evidence to the contrary on each allegation. The statement and evidence provided was so detailed that the police had no questions to put to my client, meaning that the interview process was far less stressful than he envisaged.


Client was on bail for domestic abuse in relation to his wife. This had been dragging on for some time. We were able to obtain the particulars of the allegations from the police and then to go through them with the client. We were then able to obtain evidence that contradicted the allegations, including statements from friends, which showed that the allegations could not be true and so the police took no further action against the client. By obtaining case details, going through these with the client, speaking to witnesses and obtaining corroborative evidence, it was possible to show that the allegations were fabricated.


Client was a health care professional employed on an agency basis. There was a historic allegation made by a former client. We were able to obtain the particulars of the allegation from the police and then to set about obtaining evidence from witnesses who could cast doubt on the allegations and serve this evidence upon the police and push them for a swift resolution. The client had been on a lengthy period of police bail at the time he instructed us, and we were able to speed the process up, which was key as the client was unable to work and had no income during the lengthy period of bail.


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