Under the Real Deal initiative, market traders, Lancashire County Council Trading Standards service and Wyre Council are joining together to crack down on counterfeits which damage legitimate businesses and see dangerous criminals profit from the proceeds.

Fleetwood is among the first markets in the county to display the Real Deal brand – which tells consumers that traders have signed up to a code of practice to ‘self-police’ the market and take action if they spot anything suspicious

read the full story here :-  http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/news/press_releases/y/m/release.asp?id=201111&r=PR11/0600

The city council, worried the collectors are putting people off visiting, has warned charities they risk a fine of up to £500.

A spokesman said they could be taken to court if it was found they contravened by-laws introduced last year.

The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) said it was disappointed at the news.

The council has written to the PFRA, the firm which regulates fundraisers, warning it of the situation.

A council spokesman said the warning stemmed from a request made through Twitter, asking for people’s thoughts on the fundraisers.

‘A menace’

He said the council received a “high level” of responses within a short space of time, which he said was unusual.

The spokesman said the “chuggers” were referred to by one respondent as a “menace” which made them avoid the city centre.

A by-law passed by the council last year said that no person in the street or a public place should solicit custom for a service or seek to gather information in such a manner as to cause an obstruction or to give reason for annoyance.

The council said that it had written to the fundraising companies to remind them of this bylaw and that, if contravened, the firm would get a written warning.

However, if it continued then court proceedings could be brought.

The maximum punishment is a £500 fine, he said.

A spokesman for the PFRA said the council did not have the power to licence direct debit collections.

They added that the city council had also said it did not want to take part in a voluntary arrangement which would have seen fundraisers limited to certain areas on certain days.

“That would have balanced the right of charities to be out there asking for funds in the first place and the rights of the public not to pestered,” he said.

At roughly £100 per tonne in landfill charges and with the added cost of storage and collection, the annual waste bill for Surrey Street runs to many tens of thousands of pounds.

Cardboard accounts for about 30% of the market’s rubbish each day, and will begin to be collected by the end of July. In total as much as 80% of the total waste could eventually be able to be recycled or composted.

Market traders’ representative Rosanna Lovett, said: “We hope this will be an environmentally friendly way to cut our waste costs.”

Fiona Woodcock, Market Inspector, said: “I’m delighted that we are going to be making good use of all this waste. Anyone who needs cardboard boxes can always still come down and ask us for some though, and there’s loads of other packaging that could be reused if people want to be inventive. For instance we have grapes that come all the way from Chile that are beautifully wrapped in tissue and ribbon - at the moment this just gets thrown away.”

The council hopes that by March 2012 the market will be recycling the vast majority of its waste. Cardboard will be collected from July this year with the plan being to pick up food waste by the end of March next.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for environment and highways, said: “Many of our residents are already regular recyclers and I’m pleased that we have been able to work out a practical method of helping our market traders to follow suit.”

Market managers can advertise their empty pitches, publish their latest press releases and keep up-to-date with all the latest market news.  Our free forum is being updated which which will allow members to network and share knowledge with their fellow professionals.

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People visiting the Flat Iron market today were met with a blaze of colour as the old fashioned stalls have been replaced with brand new gazebos that have red and white striped tops with pelmets saying ‘Welcome to Chorley Markets’.

Councillor Alan Cullens, who champions the town centre at Chorley Council, said: “The new gazebos give the market a brand new look and we’ve already had people saying how much of an improvement it is.

“The new stalls make it a lot easier for traders to display their goods and in turn that makes it a better shopping experience for visitors to the town centre.

“The council is really keen to support the markets and we hope by attracting more people to Chorley it will also help provide a boost to other town centre traders.”

The Flat Iron market, owned and managed by Chorley Council, stands on part of the town’s Flat Iron car park every Tuesday and the new layout with gazebo-style stalls means there will be a total of 46 new gazebos plus 28 pitches.

Stallholder David Broughton was one of the first to use the new gazebos and said they would be a great improvement on the old stalls.

“The gazebos are nice and bright and if they get more people into Chorley then all the better,” he said.

Shoppers were glowing with praise for the new look with the talk all around the market about the brand new look.

Mary Cocker, who was visiting one of the clothing stalls, said: “They’re really bright and stand out and give a more welcoming feel to the market. They’ll provide more cover when if it’s raining and they look really good.”

The gazebos will be used for the weekly Flat Iron market but also for other events in the town centre.

“I’d urge anyone who has not been to the markets for a while and come and have a look at what is on offer,” said Councillor Cullens.

“We’ve been marketing the improvements to both prospective traders and coach tour operators and we’re seeing an increase in the number of stallholders as well as an increase in the number of coach trips to Chorley, which is great not just for the markets but the town centre as a whole.”

More information about the markets is available at www.chorley.gov.uk/markets.

Mustapha Hassan, aged 28, and Furgann Hassan, aged 20, of Clarendon Road Manchester, were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 27 June, to eight months imprisonment , suspended for 12 months, after they pleaded guilty to 22 offences under the Trade Mark Act 1984. They were also ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that the fake goods were offered for sale over a two year period from December 2008 to December 2010 at the brothers’ sportswear stalls in St John’s Market and at the Heritage Market in Stanley Dock.

In December 2008 Trading Standards Officers visited St John’s Market as part of an anti-counterfeiting exercise in the run-up to Christmas.  The officers found a quantity of trainers and sportswear hidden in a lock up used by Mustapha Hassan. The goods, which Mr Hassan admitted were his, were seized.

The stall was visited in June 2009 and again fake trainers and clothing were found and again Mustapha Hassan admitted the goods were his. Officers visited a stall also run by the Hassans on a further eight occasions, and seized counterfeit trainers and sportswear. On two of those occasions the brothers had already appeared in court charged with offering counterfeit goods for sale.  In all a total approximate £25,000 of fake goods were seized.

In sentencing, His Honour Judge Roberts said that an aggravating feature was that further offences were committed after the brothers had appeared in court and that they had over a long period turned a blind eye to whether goods were counterfeit or  not.    .

Costs of £4,000 were awarded to the City Council.  Forfeiture and destruction of the counterfeit goods was ordered.

Cllr Tim Moore, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change said: “This was a case in which traders persistently sold fake goods. Not only does this this sort of activity hurt customers who think they are buying the real thing but it also hits at legitimate traders. I am pleased that the courts have taken a hard line.”

Cheshire East Council has decided to ‘meet traders halfway’ on proposals to change the cost.

But council leaders reminded people that the area’s taxpayers will now continue to subsidise market traders, while the original proposal meant the taxpayer would no longer partially fund these businesses.

The authority received a string of protests and petitions from market traders in Crewe and Nantwich objecting to the proposed changes in market rent.

The council has now decided that rents will change from July, on average from £20 per day to £22.50p per day – half the original increase.

Councillor Rod Menlove said: “Firstly, I would like to thank all those who sent their views to the council.

“I can assure everyone concerned that these views have been very carefully considered when making this decision.

“Balancing the needs of our market traders and the cost to the taxpayer is always challenging. We understand that the current trading environment is a difficult one.

“We want to meet traders halfway. That is why we have decided to increase the cost of a market stall rent by, on average, £2.50p, rather than £5.

“This change has not removed the subsidy from the taxpayer entirely but does reduce it.

“Each market stall is, in essence, a commercial operation. With this in mind, it would be unfair to other businesses in Cheshire East to continue to subsidise market traders to previous levels.

“How this issue is dealt with in the future is subject to further discussions.

“There are some town councils who may look to take control of their local market through the transfer of services – it will then be up to the councillors involved to make their own decisions as to how their markets are funded.”

source: Crewe & Nantwich Guardian

OPPOSITION leader Ed Miliband will visit Mexborough today to support the town’s embattled market traders.

And he will be greeted by a massive petition of FOUR THOUSAND names – gathered inside weeks to oppose the huge hikes demanded by DMBC which will be phased in over the next two years.

The Labour leader and Doncaster North MP has joined the traders in protest against the proposed market rent rise of up to FIVE HUNDRED per cent set to be imposed by Doncaster Mayor, Peter Davies.

The stallholders claim they could not afford the draconian increases, which they claim could leave the market half-empty, or even shut down completely.

Mayor Davies has justified the increases, saying the traders have not received a rent increase in 15 years and the council could not continue to subsidise the rents.

Phil Toon, 57, treasurer of the Mexborough Market Traders’ Association, told the Times: “Mr Miliband came out publicly in support of us months ago, and we have been in contact with him all the way through this.

“This is the earliest chance he has had to visit us, and we are glad to welcome him to the market.

“We explained to him that the Mayor is totally out of touch with reality.

“We understand he has approached Mr Davies – but it has fallen on deaf ears.

“We would accept a reasonable increase, but this would put many of us out of business.”

“Mr Davies knows nothing about Mexborough. When we raised £3,000 for the Air Ambulance a couple of years ago, he was supposed to come and present a cheque.

“But he didn’t even know where our Market Hall was… he turned up at Wetherspoons!”

In a letter to the South Yorkshire Times last week, traders published a table showing how the rises affect current rents and the traders are in no mood to back down.

Veteran market trader, Gordon Smith, revealed that traders have already spent hundreds of pounds on legal advice to fight the rent increases.

He said; “We are going to fight this all the way. We are very serious about saving businesses in the market and by implication the town centre.

“If Mayor Davies manages to end 800 years of markets in Mexborough – what kind of achievement will that have been for him?”

A stallholder, who asked not to be named, branded Mayor Davies a “hypocrite” after he welcomed news that Doncaster High Street was the fourth most resilient in the country and Doncaster Market being voted Britain’s best market.

The trader said: “To be honest, he is more interested in Doncaster town centre rather than smaller businesses like ourselves.

“They are doing nothing for us – we are just being treated like the poor relations.”

source: South Yorkshire Times