Lancashire Restaurants, take-aways and chip shops are being warned not to pay £20 for a worthless 'Millennium Award of Distinction for Excellence' being offered by the grand-sounding "Supreme Council of the Hotel and Restaurant Academy".

Sending letters from 'Academy House', which is actually an ordinary suburban house in Hertfordshire, the 'Academy' claims to have undertaken an 'extensive' survey and infers that the business has been 'selected as a winner' of the 'prestigious Millennium Award' and promises listing in a future publication.

Lancashire County Council Trading Standards are familiar with this sort of bogus certificate and County Councillor X said

"Any local businesses who receive a letter are advised not to waste £20 on these worthless offers but to pass them on to our Trading Standards service at 55 Guildhall Street, Preston PR1 3NU. Businesses offered these 'awards' are usually picked at random from the telephone directory and no quality checks have been made. The schemes are simply aimed at earning money for the promoters who are, in effect, selling pieces of paper for £20.00 each.