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Journal of Trading Standards, Online Edition - JoTS Online

Welcome to the Journal of Trading Standards online edition, JoTS Online. Browse through our latest Articles - including Analysis, Opinion Pieces, Features and a selection of articles from our acclaimed print journal.

Although many JoTS Online articles are open access (public), others are exclusive to CTSI Members - in which case, you'll need to login to access them. If you aren't a member of CTSI yet, you can join us here. And, if you'd like to contribute articles or suggest topics for us to cover, please email our Editorial Team.

Latest JoTS Online Articles : 

News Category Tags: Crime, Product Safety, Health and Safety, Counterfeit Goods, Retail, Animal Health and Welfare, Legal and Policy, Enforcement Practice, Product Recalls, Property and Housing, Automotive, Vapes, Business, CTSI Conference, CTSI Hero Awards.

 

KCC fights back against rogues

Posted: 03 March 2023

UPDATES: Kent County Council is urging residents to stay alert to seasonal rogue traders and cold callers while highlighting its Trading Standards Checked scheme as a way to identify reputable local businesses.
 

Builder jailed for money laundering

Posted: 03 March 2023

UPDATES: A rogue builder has been jailed for money laundering after a Trading Standards investigation into dangerously substandard building work traced more than £63,000 paid by a homeowner through his bank account.
 

£40,000 of illicit vapes to be destroyed

Posted: 03 March 2023

UPDATES: Around £40,000 worth of non-compliant disposable vapes seized from a City retailer will be destroyed after officers found products that breached UK legal limits on nicotine-containing devices.
 

HotSW TS seizes illicit tobacco

Posted: 24 February 2023

UPDATES: Intelligence that illegal tobacco and vapes were being sold to children prompted a joint raid in Taunton, leading to significant seizures as investigators continued efforts to disrupt the illicit trade.
 

Obituary: Norman Frederick Watson

Posted: 22 February 2023

UPDATES: Norman Watson’s career traced the changing shape of Trading Standards, from post-war weights and measures work to early Trade Descriptions Act prosecutions. This obituary remembers a forensic legal mind, generous teacher and private family man whose professionalism left a lasting mark on colleagues in Leeds and West Yorkshire.
 

Obituary: James Edward Morris

Posted: 22 February 2023

UPDATES: Jim Morris came late to Trading Standards but built a career of quiet distinction, from West Riding weights and measures work to the arrival of electronic rail weighbridges and Trade Descriptions enforcement. Remembered as practical, principled and deeply generous, he helped colleagues, students and people in need throughout his life.
 

Illegal vodka distillery discovered

Posted: 20 February 2023

UPDATES: HMRC officers, supported by Staffordshire Trading Standards, have dismantled a counterfeit vodka factory near Lichfield capable of producing 150 bottles an hour. The seizure exposed suspected fake Krackoff vodka, large storage tanks and an operation estimated to be evading £2.5m in excise duty each year.
 

Suspended sentence for COVID fraudster

Posted: 17 February 2023

UPDATES: Southwark Trading Standards’ prosecution of Bishop Climate Wiseman exposed the sale of £91 bottles of ‘Plague Protection Oil’ falsely promoted as a COVID-19 cure. The case shows how officers balanced community sensitivity, expert evidence and legal preparation to tackle dangerous health claims during the pandemic.
 

Orkney TS praised for successes

Posted: 17 February 2023

UPDATES: Orkney’s four-person Trading Standards team has been praised after recovering £110,000 for a scam victim, preventing further losses and helping residents secure refunds. The article highlights the value of a small, locally trusted service working across isolated island communities with limited resources.
 

Rogue builder jailed for fraud offences

Posted: 15 February 2023

UPDATES: Southwark Trading Standards’ investigation into rogue builder Richard Nicholls revealed more than £1.1m in losses, unfinished and dangerous work, and victims left financially and emotionally devastated. His three-year prison sentence followed support from the National Trading Standards Tri Regional Investigation Team and detailed financial evidence.
 

Suffolk TS secures victim compensation

Posted: 15 February 2023

UPDATES: Suffolk Trading Standards has secured £50,000 in compensation for victims of David Waters, whose mobility furniture company took deposits from elderly and disabled consumers but failed to deliver. The payout follows his fraud conviction and underlines the team’s work beyond prosecution to recover money for those harmed.
 

Making regulation work better

Posted: 15 February 2023

ANALYSIS: Professor Chris Hodges argues that regulation works best when it focuses less on outputs and punishment, and more on trust, cooperation and real-world outcomes. Drawing on aviation, finance and Trading Standards, he makes the case for outcome-based cooperative regulation that supports ethical cultures while retaining consequences for serious wrongdoing.
 

Allergens: a matter of life and death

Posted: 15 February 2023

ANALYSIS: Natasha’s Law has strengthened allergen labelling for pre-packed food, but patchy awareness, supplier changes and limited local authority resources still leave consumers at risk. Through the work of David Pickering, Dilys Harris and the family of Megan Lee, the article shows why allergen compliance is a life-saving duty, not a technical formality.
 

Illicit tobacco seized in NE Lincs

Posted: 13 February 2023

UPDATES: North East Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Humberside Police have seized illegal cigarettes, tobacco, shisha and disposable vapes from five businesses in Grimsby and Cleethorpes. The Operation CeCe raids removed products worth tens of thousands of pounds and continued a local enforcement drive against illicit tobacco sales.
 

Touchstone winners make their mark

Posted: 08 February 2023

ANALYSIS: In June 2022 the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) Touchstone Award was presented at the CTSI Conference in Bristol....
 

Dorset man fined for unsafe fireworks

Posted: 08 February 2023

UPDATES: A business owner who failed to take measures to protect the public during a firework display has been...
 

Trading Standards focus of REUL debate

Posted: 07 February 2023

UPDATES: Trading Standards and consumer rights were in the spotlight yesterday evening (6 February) in the House of Lords...
 

Government replaces BEIS with new dept

Posted: 07 February 2023

UPDATES: The Government has announced that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has been replaced with...
 

Leicestershire rogue builder jailed

Posted: 06 February 2023

UPDATES: A builder from Leicestershire has been handed a four-year prison sentence after being found guilty of fraud offences....
 

Apprenticeships: a class act

Posted: 06 February 2023

ANALYSIS: For some of us, finding ourselves back at our old schools is the stuff of anxiety-inducing bad dreams;...