Coventry Trading Standards has been taking action to target rogue traders as part of a week-long national enforcement and awareness initiative.

The week-long national campaign codenamed Operation Rogue Trader was coordinated by Operation Liberal - a national intelligence unit that links associated crimes and gathers intelligence on known criminals and organised crime groups who travel extensively throughout the UK,  the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

Rogue traders are individuals or groups of people who cold-call householders, often targeting vulnerable residents, claiming to be a bona fide business and purporting to offer services, most commonly buildings maintenance and repair.

Across the UK, police forces, trading standards officials and partner agencies have undertaken a wide range of work to identify and arrest rogue traders, to disrupt the activity of rogue trading and to make communities aware of this type of crime.

This week (Monday 11 -Friday 15 April) Coventry Trading Standards has been working jointly with local Police, banks and Coventry Building Society – to raise awareness of rogue traders and how to avoid becoming a victim to this type of crime.

Trading Standards’ advice:

•  Never agree to buy goods or services from people who unexpectedly knock on your door: Do not be pressurised!  
• Not Sure? Don’t Open the Door!
•  Remember, anyone agreeing to a contract in their own home costing more than £42 is legally entitled to a 14-day cancellation period where they can change their mind. If you are not given cancellation rights, do not sign up.
•  If you do need work on your property or garden, use a reputable local trader recommended by friends or family or someone who has been vetted and is part of the Trusted Trader Scheme, run by the Council and Age UK Coventry on 024 7643 3982.

You should report cases of Rogue Traders or uninvited doorstep callers to Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06.

We continue to receive reports of emails claiming to be from HMRC advising on tax refunds that are due.

A local resident has reported receiving a phishing e-mail claiming to be sent on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The resident was advised that he was due a rebate and was asked to click on a link to ‘confirm’ acceptance.

HMRC will never send notifications of a tax rebate by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email. Do not click on any link contained within the email or disclose any personal or payment information.

If you have received an HMRC related phishing/bogus email, please forward it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it.

If, following receipt of any email claiming to be from HMRC, you have disclosed personal details - forward brief details of the type(s) of information disclosed: e.g. name, address, date of birth etc. to HMRC: security.custcon@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk (do not give your actual personal details in the email). HMRC will act upon all HMRC related phishing emails, removing reported fraudulent websites.

Take a look at the HMRC guidance.

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Jacobsens Bakery Ltd is recalling all tins of ‘Disney Favourites’ and ‘Disney Frozen’ because they contain milk which is not mentioned on the label. This means the products are a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents.

The affected products have been supplied to the following

UK retailers:

• Poundstretcher
• Home Bargains (T. J. Morris Ltd)
• Poundland Ltd
• B&M Stores
• NISA Retail Ltd
• 99p Stores Ltd
• Poundworld Retail Ltd
• TK Maxx (TJX Europe Buying Ltd)
• Sam 99p Stores Ltd

Product details:

All 150g tins of the following products are begin recalled from the retailers listed above:

• Disney Favourites Vol 1 with chocolate chip cookies
• Disney Favourites Vol 2 with chocolate chip cookies

All 300g tins of the following product are being recalled from TK Maxx (the other listed retailers did not buy this product).

The recall of all these products applies to all ‘best before’ dates and LOT codes.

Risk: Allergen: milk

Advice: If you have bought one of the above products and have an allergy or intolerance to either milk or milk constituents, return it to the store from where you bought it for a full refund.

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