Lawdata - Team of professional legal advisors with knowledge and experience in Trading Standards

Lawdata - Healthchecks

The problem with the Trade Description Act from your point of view is that it creates strict liability offences, i.e. once a false trade description has been applied, or the goods are offered for sale then the offence has been committed.

Are you aware that a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 could leave your company directors personally open to prosecution?

Are you aware of exactly what the Trade Descriptions Act covers; how your employees could leave the directors open to prosecution, and how you can prevent this happening.

We are quite sure that a company of your standing would not deliberately apply false trade descriptions, but consider the following:

A previous owner put a 16v badge on his Golf GTi Sadly the salesman didn't spot the mistake and sold it as a 16v.

A franchised dealer sold a new car, but had to replace the odometer within 30,000 miles. The car was later purchased as a part exchange, and sold by the same dealer through the auction with warranted mileage.

A salesman took it upon himself to state that a car had a Thatch am category 1 alarm and immobiliser fitted. The court held that the dealer had not done enough to prevent this happening.

A dealer bought two virtually identical cars from auction. One had air conditioning, the other didn't. Unfortunately the wrong car was advertised as having air conditioning.

The problem with the Trade Descriptions Act from your point of view is that it creates strict liability offences. i.e. once a false trade description has been applied, or the goods are offered for sale then the offence has been committed.

It is not a defence to simply blame the salesman, or a previous owner, the only line of defence is to show that:

That the offence was due to a mistake or reliance on information supplied to you, or to the act or default of another person, an accident or some other cause beyond your control.

...and...

That you took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by the business, or any person under your control.

Lawdata can assist you in ensuring that you have the foundations of such a defence in place.

You need to carry out regular checks around your business to ensure that your staff are doing what they have been told, and that your systems are working.

> The Lawdata healthcheck has been designed to assist you in this duty and includes:

Mystery Shop:

a mystery shop whereby a consultant will pose as a customer to check to ensure that the descriptions given by the sales person coincide with the instructions given by the company. The consultant will then identify the potential risk and any additional training necessary.

Purchase of Stock Vehicles:

an examination of the process for the purchase of vehicles.

Customer Vehicle Order Form:

an examination and critique of its suitability and use within the Branch.

Sales Invoice:

an examination and critique of its suitability and use within the Branch.