Final warning for rogue publishing firms

Rogue publishing firms that con pubs are getting a final warning to stop the scams.

Letters are to be sent to suspected rogue publishers to coincide with tough new powers for trading standards against scammers.

Licensees have been conned into paying hundreds or thousands of pounds for ads in non-existent publications for good causes.

Trading standards in north-west England - where most of the scams originate - will make it clear to the scammers that action is planned under the new Business Protection from Misleading Marketing regulations.

The regulations are expected to allow civil injunctions to be taken against rogue firms - where the burden of proof will be less than for criminal prosecutions.

Authorities could apply for a court injunction to ensure firms don't make misleading statements. They could also carry out test purchases and enter premises without warrants.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council trading standards manager John Malone said he knew of eight suspected scam publishers operating in his region.

"Most of these traders are based in the north west. Liverpool, Lancashire and Manchester [trading standards] have all decided that sending letters is the way we are going to go," he said.

"If we do need to go to court we can prove that we have tried to put them on the straight and narrow, but that they have ignored the advice."

Malone added: "We plan to send them out as soon as we get the final regulations."

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform said: "We expect Parliament to approve the draft regulations in the next few weeks."