Removing illegal and dangerous goods from sale among successes of Trading Standards team in Norfolk

Successes including tackling tobacco and alcohol sales to children and removing dangerous electrical items from sale have been highlighted in a report detailing the work done by Norfolk's Trading Standards team to keep consumers safe across the county over the last year. 
 
"Whether it's getting counterfeit vapes removed from sale, tackling unsafe electricals which can increase fire risk or ensuring pubs are serving full measures, the work of our Trading Standards officers over the last year has made a real difference to public safety both in Norfolk and beyond," said Norfolk's Chief Fire Officer Ceri Sumner, whose fire service remit includes Trading Standards. 

Over the last year, Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards team has: 

• Led a project across Eastern England to examine the safety of lithium-ion batteries and chargers sold online, resulting in the removal of 1,813 unsafe items from an online marketplace. More than half of the items test-purchased were found to be unsafe, risking electric shock, fire or explosion
• Concluded eight formal investigations relating to shops selling vapes to minors, illegal tobacco and vapes and rogue tradespeople. This work resulted in five prosecutions
• Worked with partners including police and local councils to address the problem of illegal vapes, obtaining closure orders from the courts where traders persist in selling illegal vapes or selling to minors
• Calibrated more than 25,000 pieces of equipment and verified weighing and measuring instruments for local, national and international businesses- generating income which has been invested back into the vital consumer safety work of Trading Standards
• Sought to protect people from fraud, scams and rogue traders by raising awareness, working with vulnerable people and introducing more No Cold Calling Zones
• Maintained the Trusted Trader Scheme so that Norfolk's residents can find reliable and trustworthy tradespeople, supporting the local economy to add revenue of £555k between April and December 2024
• Undertaken a sampling project to check that restaurants are correctly following allergen procedures, so that consumers are not put at risk of undeclared allergens, such as peanuts, in their meals
• Removed from sale unroadworthy cars and children's toys which failed consumer safety checks, including flammability tests

As well as the above they have also dealt with animal disease outbreaks in recent month, including the blue tongue virus and avian flu outbreaks. 

Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards team works very closely with a range of partners, including colleagues in Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service. Increased collaboration over the last two years has seen fire investigators and TS officers work together to identify products which have caused house fires and drive forward work to get them removed from sale. They have also partnered on battery safety and electric blanket safety sessions for the public and the joint work was highlighted as a shining example of safety collaboration by The Office of Product Safety and Standards.

Due to a national shortage of qualified Trading Standards officers, apprentices have been recruited in two cohorts over recent years, in 2022 and 2024, ensuring that Norfolk will continue to have experts not just now and into the future to fulfil the council's statutory duties. 

Building on this work, Trading Standards bosses submitted their service plan for 2025-2026 for approval by Norfolk County Council's Cabinet on 7 April.  

It's highlighting the key areas for the year ahead, focusing on: 

• Responding to business and consumer vulnerabilities
• Environmental protection, ensuring: businesses are supported to comply with new green legislative requirements, and the service operates in a manner to support the council's net-zero ambitions
• Investment in our workforce to develop a resilient service able to respond to a continually developing legal landscape
• Development of our service in response to the Food Standards Agency's new Food Standards Delivery Model
• Continued integration with Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service to realise improved services for businesses and communities and inhouse efficiencies
• Development of our commercial services and chargeable activities: increasing our income, primarily through our calibration and chargeable business advice functions to reduce our reliance on grant funding. This will include relocation of our Calibration Centre and the implementation of a webshop to increase calibration business and efficiency

Read the Trading Standards Service Plan 2025/26 in the 7 Apr 2025 Cabinet agenda.