01 September 2000
The Commons Public Accounts Committee said in a report published this week that the OFT had been far too soft with traders whose dubious reputation was well-established.
The OFT, the statutory body supposed to protect consumers' rights, was, the committee said, failing to use the Fair Trading Act effectively, although the MPs acknowledged the need for new, tougher legislation.
`In the meantime, the OFT should consider applying the approach they and some trading standards services take in relation to anti-competitive practices, and make public their warnings to traders whom they have good cause to believe are flouting consumers' rights,' the report says.
The committee discovered that it took 13 years to suspend the licence of one convicted trader and 16 years before it banned another persistent offender.
David Davis, the Conservative chairman of the committee, said: `Consumer credit licences are hardly ever refused or revoked, even while some traders hold serious criminal convictions. It is quite shocking that the OFT has only once applied to the courts for a contract to be revised.
`The OFT has persistently failed to take opportunities to show traders that they will not tolerate rip-offs.'
PFsep2000
