We all realise that there are more important things in life than consumer-protection, particularly in the light of events last year. The vast majority of us have little or no control of outside factors which affect our lives. However, In those areas where we do have some influence or control we should take the opportunity to exercise our rights. One such area is consumer-protection and, in the CDCG’s opinion, it is an area where we are making progress. Most agencies and authorities seriously consider consumers, and consumer interests.
To make that progress we have depended on the good will and activities of members of the CDCG, and like bodies. And to make further progress we must continue to depend on these resources. However, we have a problem. CDCG needs new members both for the financial contribution they make and activities they provide. We are a totally voluntary organisation. No payment whatsoever is made to officers and members for their services. The money we receive is used entirely to promote the Group’s aims. But we also need more money to increase our membership and, in this respect, every new member serves a double purpose. Each provides funds and enhances the strength of the organisation. If you have friends or acquaintances who are interested in consumer issues, please ask them to join us.
They will receive regular copies of this magazine and our Fact Sheets, and regular issues of the magazine of the new National Consumer Federation.
In addition, membership provides and increases interest in one of the privileges of our society, playing a part in the community. All this for the modest sum of £5 per annum.
If you have any issues you would like the Group to look into, or if you have any articles for the next issue of the Crier, please write to:
The Editor, CDCG
22 Birdhurst Rise
SOUTH CROYDON,
CR2 7ED
High Street Purley offers the opportunity of combining consideration of the Best Value Government initiative with parking restrictions enforced in the High Street.
Under the impending Best Value Revues, local authorities are encouraged to "consult with people and organisations that are affected by their services, whether directly or indirectly, to find out their view on the quality, effectiveness and appropriateness of services".
There are three categories of restrictions in the High Street: at parking bays, on single yellow lines, and on double yellow lines. The 9am - 5pm restrictions imposed at parking bays draw attention to the fact that a fee is payable during that period if the parking bays are utilised. The second category is on single yellow lines for the period 7 am - 7pm whose object is to ease traffic to prevent congestion during busy periods. The confusion arises because the restrictions on the east side of the street differ from those on the west side of the street. On the east side of the street, the 9 am to 5 pm restriction applies both to parking bays and to single yellow lines. The Council state that the restrictions on the west side of the street were introduced to reduce obstructive parking especially close to the exit of the Purley multi-storey Car Park. Consumers who know the High Street will realise that the traffic in the street is very light during the extended restricted periods, which makes them inappropriate for the purpose stated, and confuses drivers wishing to use the swimming pool in the early morning or evening, to their cost.
The Council has stated that they intend to reduce the restrictions so that they operate equally on both sides of the road. However, no fines will be refunded!
This example indicates how inappropriate regulations may adversely alter the character of an area, resulting in shop closures and inconvenience to elderly and non-mobile consumers. One of the main centres of life in the district was Sainsbury’s, which has since closed. The suspicion arises that the restrictions may have been unnecessarily severe to encourage drivers to use the Council’s multi-storey car park where the charges were substantially higher. Since Sainsbury’s closed, these car parking charges, which served the store, have been substantially reduced, bringing them more or less into line with the parking bay charges. ‘Closing the door after the horse...’ as they say.
We have been asked about our membership of CVA, how we benefit and what it involves. As consumers we think it important to take an interest in what is happening in the community as consumers have broad interests.
Croydon Council considers the voluntary sector to be partners for improving the environment of the borough. We are informed that there are about 200 organisations which are members of the CVA and another 270 voluntary organisations in the Borough which have contact with CVA. Voluntary organisations are taking over a great deal of responsibility for the provision of local services covering a whole range of activities including health, education and regeneration. Support for small organisations such as ethnic, age and cultural groups improve the quality of life.
Last year the Council contributed over £300,000 to support CVA activities. In addition, CVA were successful in winning £1m from the New Opportunities Fund to develop a Healthy Living Centres Network and CVA will manage one of the first online learning centres in the Borough. CVA is taking a co-lead in north-west Croydon’s £24m regeneration programme. However, its main purpose is to provide practical support services to voluntary groups in the Croydon area.
Training is an important aspect of CVA activities. Courses on a whole range of subjects, of interest and benefit to voluntary groups, are offered. From how to start and administer a group to specific problems like mental health awareness.
Voluntary organisations play an important role in the community. There are many thousands of individuals who devote time, and often resources, to caring for the welfare of individuals and groups in their communities. The money that agencies invest to support voluntary organisations provides Best Value in every sense of the term. The other side of the coin is that many volunteers are enthusiastic supporters of the organisations they serve and get real satisfaction from being of service to their local community. Many are retired individuals with substantial experience who feel that they would like to contribute some of their time to the community.
We consider that the CDCG’s membership of CVA is worthwhile for all its members, and we hope you agree.
Product: Red Square Vodka 1 litre
Recalled: 26th November 2001 Problem: Discovery of a small number of bottles containing glass particulates inadvertently introduced because of a malfunction at a bottling plant. Please note the 7Ocl and 1.5ltr bottles of this product are not affected.
Action:
Helpline Number: 0870 243 2525
Product: New Look 3 Candle Votives sold between 30th September and 14th November 2001
Recalled: 26th November 2001
Problem: 3 Candle Pack
New Look Group plc advises all customers that there is a risk that the ceramic candle holder could catch fire whilst the candle is in use.
Action:
Product: Boots Fur Hot Water Bottle
and Cover (item code 20-64-812)
Cold Feet Hot Water Bottle and Cover (item
code 20-63-670)
Snowflake Hot Water Bottle and Cover (item code 20-63-913) sold
between 1st September to 14th November 2001
Recalled: 15th November 2001
Problem: It is possible that the walls of a small number of the bottles could be stuck together. This means that hot water could overflow when you are filling the hot water bottle.
Action:
Although it was introduced with a fanfare, few people seem to know what Best Value is, what its implications are, and what it is intended to achieve. In fact few people seem to have heard of Best Value at all. If they have, they seem to think it is something to do with shopping around for goods and services.
In fact, Best Value is a Government initiative to improve the standard of service provided by local authorities to their communities. Basically it is a system intended to give local people greater influence over the activities of their local councils. Its intention is to raise the standard of the service of councils by obtaining input of the opinions, aspirations, and dissatisfactions of people they are supposed to serve.
Councils will have to review the quality of their services, set targets for improving them, and publish annual results of progress made. In order to review "quality", Councils will have to define it. This makes consultation with local people and groups absolutely essential to find out what they think of the services provided and how they can be improved.
This provides an excellent chance for local organisations, of which the CDCG is one, to give a voice to their problems and concerns and offers an excellent platform for members to influence the activities of the Council. We pay for the services, it is only fair that we should have a say in how they are provided.
To involve the community in the Best Value programme, Croydon Council arranged a conference in support of the community and voluntary organisations in the area. The aim was to ensure that such support is effectively and efficiently provided in accordance with the Council’s priorities.
With this in view, the Council would establish a framework for performance-monitoring and quality-assurance, which would be independently audited. To achieve Best Value it is essential that the Council develops a consultation strategy that involves businesses and local organisations in a way, which ensures that the services provided, are economical, effective, appropriate and efficient. The intention is to cover every area of local government activity and to involve members of the community. Consequently councils are expected to develop ways of actively involving local people in decision-making and making them more accountable and responsible to the communities they serve.
Best Value gives people a standard with which to approach their councils to indicate their requirements and dissatisfactions. When they write to their local authority they can refer to Best Value.
To find out more, contact Croydon Council to find our what they are doing, or log on to the Department of the Environment website at: www.Iocal-regions.detr.gov.uk.
In response to interest shown by some of our members we thought that we would obtain details for planning applications and procedures. Accordingly, we wrote to Croydon Council to request information as we were informed at the One Stop Planning Desk that they had no written information available. We were informed that the Planning Department is currently reviewing the information it has and is aiming to produce a good deal more. It was suggested that we guide our readers to the Internet www.croydon.qov.uk/planninQ (those who have access) where a lot of information is available regarding what requires planning permission, appeal procedures, processing an application, and enforcement of planning control.
Apparently a leaflet entitled "What happens to my planning Application" is now out of date and is being rewritten. However, a letter from the Planning Department states "An application will be given a unique number and letters will be sent out to neighbours and other people who may be affected by the proposed development. We invite them to come and look at applications at the Planning One Stop Reception Desk in Taberner House. We allow 21 days for the Public to respond." Staff are available if anyone wishes to discuss an application.
"There are two ways an application my be decided, by an Officer with delegated authority of the Council or by the Development Control Committee." Applications decided under delegated powers are dealt with at meetings, which are not open to the public, unless there are sufficient representations from interested parties or are referred to the Committee by a Councillor.
There is not sufficient space to include all the information contained in the Planning Department letter but some comments from our members may be of interest if you are involved in a planning application.
Once we have carried out the Leisure Services Survey, and informed you of our findings, in the spring we are planning to focus on noise-nuisance. A number of members have been plagued by inconsiderate neighbours, and have had some success in lessening their distress or remedying the problem by working in conjunction with the local Environmental Health office, police and housing officers.
We have some interesting ‘case histories’, and are looking for more to illustrate a substantial article to appear in the next issue of the Crier. If ~ have had experience of succeeding or failing to tackle noise-nuisance from neighbours or others, we would like to hear from you. Please mark the envelope in which you send the details ‘Noise-nuisance’, and send it to:
CDCG @ Trading Standards Service
Consumer Advisory Service
Taberner House,
ark Lane Croydon,
CR9 3BT
or telephone 020 8656 5315.
If you have not personally experienced this problem, but a friend, family member or neighbour who lives in Croydon or one of its surrounding districts has been inconvenienced (or worse) we would like to involve them in our survey. We do not wish to restrict our work to CDCG members only, although it will be through our members that we will be able to make contact with a wider group of participants and beneficiaries.
PLEASE HELP US WITH THIS ISSUE IF YOU CAN. The peace of mind of a growing number of people may depend upon the examples and experiences of our membership.
This quiz was such a success in the last issue, that it has been decided to keep it as a regular feature. So see how many answers you get right this time
(answers are at the bottom end of this Web Page).
1. You purchase a cassette recorder from a local store using your credit card. Four weeks later it stops working. What can you do?
A Nothing — it is bad luck
B Go back to the store and reject the item
C Try and fix it yourself
2. What is the name of the main piece of legislation that controls credit licensing, advertising and agreements?
A Consumer Credit Act 1974
B Hire Purchase Act 1964
C Consumer Transactions Act 1988
3. The supply of water to your tap is governed by the various water Acts, but once that water has left your tap, who is it regulated by?
A Food Safety Act 1990
B No difference
C Not regulated
4. What is the name of the piece of legislation that requires massage establishments to be licensed?
A The Surrey Act 1989
B The Kent Act 1986
C The Essex Act 1987
5. You buy a house. It turns out to have major defects, which cost almost as much as the house to repair. You can:
A Claim from the estate agent
B Claim for the cost of the repairs from the person who sold you the house
C Claim from the surveyor
Since our Annual General Meeting last summer, we have had a busy and successful time, in spite of the Committee and Active Members experiencing a number of personal and health difficulties. Two Active Members have had falls resulting, in the case of one of them, in several months’ physiotherapy. Committee members have broken, in one case a leg, in another a toe, and a third member has suffered from pleurisy. There have been bereavements, car crashes — in summary, enough to keep us busy when we haven’t been considering the well-being of our fellow consumers of Croydon!
As in the 1999-2000 year, the Executive Committee was joined regularly by a stalwart band of Active Members at our monthly meetings, and together we have made progress on a number of projects. We have produced two more editions of the Croydon Crier and more information sheets, have carried out two NHS related surveys, and followed up our work on surveying the tram service. The results of the price survey were sent to members last autumn, and we will be working on a survey of swimming and leisure facilities during this winter.
When I wrote my last report, we were considering the amalgamation of the Croydon and Bromley consumer groups. Fortunately for us all, the Bromley group was able to weather its temporary difficulties and is, like us, continuing to work for its local consumers on issues that closely concern them. However, the National Federation of Consumer Groups NfCG amalgamate with a sister organisation, after calling a Special General Meeting earlier this year. Its name, constitution and immediate plans were outlined for CDCG members — who are affiliated to the national group through their membership of our group — in the last edition of the Croydon Crier. The CDCG Vice-Chair has been representing us on one of the national committees, and will continue to keep us informed as the coming year’s events develop.
As your representative, I was invited to attend a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in July, having been nominated for ‘services to the consumers of Croydon’. I was honoured to attend on the behalf of the whole Committee and the Active Members. Like me, I’m sure you would want to thank them for their hard work in the 2000-2001 CDCG year; and we thank all members for supporting us on our work. Let us look forward to another successful year in 2001/2002.
On 18th July, 2001, I attended a Buckingham Palace Garden Party, representing the Committee and Active Members of the CDCG. We had been nominated by the Department for Trade and Industry in recognition of our work for consumer representation and protection in Croydon.
The day began beautifully sunny, and remained so until around tea-time, when the heavens opened and the tea-tents bulged with humanity. The Queen appeared beneath a see-through domed umbrella and spoke to a number of those present. Representatives of the clergy and the armed services — including cavalry officers complete with jingling riding spurs — were well represented. Ecclesiastical ladies and gentlemen in crimson or purple cassocks; Rastafari in full morning dress; an elderly gentleman, also in full morning dress, and wearing his waist-length grey hair in a pony tail; diplomats representing a great variety of nations; British nationals from an equally great variety of ethnic and faith communities; two military bands and a veritable army or catering staff were all to be seen smiling, chatting and sheltering under the trees or in close proximity to the numerous tea pots.
To my astonishment and amusement — in the light of the Queen’s family name — Battenburg cake was served, as was chocolate cake and a number of creamy comestibles. The Palace certainly serves a good cuppa — there wasn’t a tea bag to be found — and guests were encouraged to drink and eat as much as they could hold.
The showers passed in time for everyone to stroll in the gardens, making notes on particularly interesting patches of the herbaceous border and watching ducklings taking their first dip under their mother’s close supervision. Shortly before 7pm, the corgis were taken on what their policemen companions called and ‘initial sweep’ of the grounds. Apparently, the corgis are more efficient than some of the fiercer-looking guard dogs at finding visitors lingering in remote corners of the gardens. And mention of fierceness reminds me to note that rumours of the viciousness of the Royal corgies proved untrue in my personal experience. They were very friendly and curious, liking to be stroked and spoken to in that encouraging language most of us reserve for small babies and pets.
The police officers accompanying the corgis were, like all their fellow officers who guided guests into parking bays, entrance gates and reception halls, universally kindly, friendly and helpful. One heard oneself sounding remarkably like a tourist of yesteryear saying, ‘Aren’t our policemen wonderful!’ I left the Palace grounds on a sunny summer evening, feeling I’d experienced a special occasion, and been privileged to experience it. But I was glad to arrive home, and sit in the peace of my London Borough of Croydon garden — which is a good deal more peaceful, and freer of traffic noise than the Queen’s slightly larger space!
Ruth Webb, Chairperson
Croydon’s Trading Standards Service has announced that there is to be a new Charter, which is a list of home improvement businesses that have met the minimum standards set by the Service. The list will be available in the New Year. To obtain a copy please ring 020 8407 1310 ext 1868.
There is an independent body called the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that is set up by government to regulate financial services and protect your rights. There is a Consumer Helpline, which can answer general queries about financial products, and services, tell you if a firm or an adviser is authorised, and help you if you have a complaint and don’t know whom to contact.
They also produce a range of user-friendly factsheets and booklets available on pensions, mortgages, savings and investments and financial website, planning and advice, from their Leafletline and offices.
How to contact the FSA:
Consumer helpline- 0845 6061234
(calls charged at local rates)
Leafletline- 0800 9173311 (freephone)
Main switchboard- 020 7676 1000
Fax - 02076769713
Website - www.fsa.gov.uk/consumerhelp
Email- consumerhelp@fsa.gov.uk
Address- 25 The North Colannade
Canary Wharf
London E14 5HS.
If you have a complaint about a bank, building society, financial adviser, insurance company, investment firm, stockbroker or a unit trust company.
Then the Financial Ombudsman Service may be able to help you. This service has been set up by law to provide consumers with a free, independent service for resolving disputes with financial firms.
They can help with most financial complaints about:
How to contact the FSO:
Switchboard - 020 7964 1000
Email - enquiries@ftnancial-ombudsman.org. uk
Website - www.financialombudsman.org.uk
Address — Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London E149SR
If you are
then you can apply to join your gas and electricity suppliers’ Priority Service Register. This will then entitle you to
For further information about this scheme, you can contact:
Energywatch
Artillery House
Artillery Row
London
SW1P IRT
Telephone: 020 7931 9151
Fax: 020 7931 0977
Email: enquiry@energywatch.org.uk
Website: www.energywatch.org.uk
It’s a common cause of complaint: receiving a parking ticket when you least expect it. One of the problems is that fining zones are being increased periodically, whereas drivers assume that parking restrictions remain the same from day to day. And there appears to be little point in protesting or ‘making a representation’ (in Council-speak) against a fine. Again in Council-speak, the onus is on drivers to ensure that they park correctly and not in contravention of parking restrictions.
In itself this is a perfectly reasonable approach. The problems arise when a Penalty Charge Notice has been issued with which the driver disagrees. The driver has the alternative of paying a discounted rate within 14 days of the notice, otherwise the parking fine is doubled. If any payment is made one loses the right to appeal to the Independent Parking and Traffic Adjudicators and the matter is closed, so we are informed.
If one wishes to appeal to the Adjudicators the registered keeper of the vehicle must wait until he/she receives a Notice to Owner". He/she then has 28 days to make full payment or representation. There is no formal right of appeal to the adjudicators before the "Notice to Owner" is issued.
However, the Council states that as part of its ‘customer care policy’ it will deal with an ‘Informal Representation’ before the ‘Notice to Owner’ has been issued. If the representation is rejected the owner is given two options. He/she can pay the discounted fine by a stipulated date or wait for the ‘Notice to Owner’, at which stage he/she can either make full payment or appeal to the adjudicators. If he/she does neither, a charge certificate is issued which increases the fine by 50%.
It seems unfair that if a driver elects to pay the discounted fine he/she loses this right to appeal. If he/she doesn’t pay the discounted fine in the period, or by the date, stipulated, he/she then becomes liable to pay the full fine. The right to appeal is lost if he/she pays either the discounted or the full amount, or so the Council say. Some of our members say that they were advised to pay the discounted rate before appealing, although the Council deny this.
The Council states that their procedure is in line with the Road Traffic Act 1991, and that it is under a statutory obligation to consider representations made after the Notice to Owner’ has been issued. Surely, Council taxpayers would assume that their statutory obligation is to consider representations in a fair and reasonable way. We know of no case where once a parking ticket has been issued, a representation has been considered favourably. We do know of cases where fines have been levied and refunded on appeal in spite of representations having been made. See the earlier article BEST VALUE AND PARKING.
1.- Option B: Assuming it was not your fault for the breakdown, the cassette recorder was not fit for purpose or of satisfactory quality therefore it can be rejected under the Sale of Goods Act and a full refund can be requested from the store.
2. Option A: The consumer Credit Act 1974
3. Option A: Once your water has left its tap, it is regulated by the Food Safety Act as are drinks including bottled mineral water.
4. Option C: The Essex Act 1987
5. Option C: Claim from the Surveyor, as service may not have been carried out with reasonable care and skill, as laid down by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.