Trading standards gets tough with local pubs not serving a full drink
The local Trading Standards office is clamping down on pubs serving their customers short, after finding 77 pub measures to be inaccurate during spot checks.
As part of an overall campaign to ensure that consumers are not short-changed and to protect businesses for handing over too much, Pouwys County Council’s Trading Standards Services carried out a total of 2,617 inspections on weighing and measuring equipment.
As well as the 77 pub measures, 63 weighing machines, 10 petrol pumps and six length measures were found to be inaccurate across the county.
Cllr Graham Brown, Board Member responsible for Public Protection, said: “Almost all goods today are sold by some reference to either its weight or measure, whether by pint, litre, gram or metre.
“This includes everyday items such as bread, petrol, beer, clothing material, sand or virtually anything else you can think of. All good, whether pre-packed or not, should be of the correct weight or measure stated on the packaging or indicated on the premises.
“Part of the job of our Trading Standards Service is to ensure that the public receive the correct amount of any product they buy. But our checks also stop businesses dispensing more of a product than they should have.”
Ken Yorston, the council's Trading Standards Manager, said: “We enforce a complex set of regulations designed to ensure that the public and businesses can have confidence in their purchases and ensures fair trading.
“The equipment that we found to be inaccurate was the result of wear and tear and they were easily rectified. If any future checks find that businesses are deliberately deceiving Powys consumers by using inaccurate equipment then we will take the appropriate action.”
Consumers and businesses who have any queries about weights and measure can contact the council's Trading Standards Service on Brecon 01874 623420; Llandrindod Wells 01597 826032; Newtown 01686 617524 or email trading.standards@powys.gov.uk.