HAVE YOU GOT OUR NUMBER?

WE'VE got your number, have you got ours?

North Yorkshire County Council trading standards officers want to make it easier and cheaper for consumers to complain and traders to seek advice.

The new trading standards telephone number for residents and businesses of North Yorkshire wanting trading standards advice is

0845 330 3313

In future all calls to the centralised complaints and enquiries team using this number will be charged at a local call rate no matter where the caller lives in the county.

The new system is also in use in Cumbria and the County of Durham as well as a number of other local authorities. However, this number does not apply to people within the City of York.

The system also provides other benefits including much better monitoring of the level of incoming calls so that the trading standards department can ensure there are staff available to meet the peak demands.

Councillor Carl Les, North Yorkshire County Council's executive member for business and community services, said: “This is an example of how we in the county council can bring economies of scale with a specialist team of consumer advisors but the direct call costs to the consumer are kept down. There is absolutely no change in the quality of the service we are providing, it will just be cheaper to contact us. If this is successful then we hope in the future to introduce a similar service for the farming community who want movement licences.

NOTE TO NEWSDESK: Picture caption-County Councillor Carl Les launches the new trading standards hotline number.

10/12/03

Contact: Stuart Pudney, trading standards 01609-766421

Executive member: Councillor Carl Les (Con) 01677-423702 Mob: 07860-639600
Group spokespeople: Councillor Steve Shaw-Wright (Lab) 01757-708849; Councillor Mrs Caroline Seymour (Lib-Dem) 01642-710382