Preventing over £17.7m of consumer harm and removing 23,400 dangerous, unsafe goods from the marketplace was amongst the work of Staffordshire County Council's Trading Standards service last year.

Officers also supported over 1,000 legitimate businesses by providing guidance and advice. Over the same period, the service received 755 complaints about scams or rogue traders. Home maintenance and home improvements and the used car sector saw high complaint figures.

Changes in the way consumers purchased goods, particularly the use of the internet and social media platforms, saw a rise in the number of unsafe or dangerous goods including electrical equipment and toys being detected. The service continues to work more closely with enforcement partners to better understand the global supply chain network, as a result of increased popularity of online trading platforms.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, officers turned their attention to enforce the regulations as a result of Covid levels and the risk to public health including restricting activities at public houses. A rise in the number and variety of scams also presented additional challenges to consumers with criminals trying to exploit a variety of mediums to trick consumers with their personal data and money. The services saw a rise in phone scams, e-mail scams and door to door scams.

The service's food, feed and animal health team also dealt with nine businesses identified as supplying misdescribed foods or foods which posed a risk to consumers for incorrectly declaring allergens. They also dealt with over 290 businesses breaching animal health and welfare requirements.

Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards at Staffordshire County Council said: "Our Trading Standards service plays a vital role in helping keep communities safe and protecting consumers.

"The service delivers huge value – from saving consumers millions of pounds to supporting extremely vulnerable people. Getting illegal, dangerous products off the streets remains a priority. Many of these products could have caused significant injury, and in some cases could have even led to fatalities.

"While supporting legitimate local businesses who make up the vast majority of companies, the service also took action against 323 businesses who fell short of their responsibilities.

"Officers also supported food and feed businesses to ensure compliance with the law, with a particular focus on the departure from the EU and ensuring that goods entering the UK are safe."

Other highlights from the year included:

• Removing 23,400 dangerous, unsafe goods with a street value of £820,000 from the market place
• Over 290,000 illicit cigarettes with a street value of £165,000 were seized.
• 19% of businesses identified for underage tobacco sales failed a test purchase, and 6.5% of business failed a test purchase for under age sales of vaping devices.
• Over 3000 food businesses advised about allergy awareness and rules.
• Five prosecutions resulted in 150 hours of community punishment and 16 hours of imprisonment.