Get Protected - Issue 23, March 2007

The free newsletter of Tameside MBC Environmental Health and Consumer Services

Providing help and advice for consumers and businesses of Tameside

Download a copy of Get Protected - Issue 23 434.33 KB

• Salt and fat in doner kebabs
• Licence your fruit machines
• Get certified in Health and Safety
• Curry Chef Competition
• Flytipping update
• No cold calling zones
• Watch out for scams

Salt and fat in doner kebabs

Tameside Trading Standards have (as part of a wider survey being carried out throughout the whole of Manchester authorities) discovered shocking amounts of Salt and Fat in Takeaway Doner Kebabs. In the survey one particular kebab purchased in Tameside was found to contain 14.7 grams of salt-more than twice the daily recommended intake of 6g and 117.2 grams of fat, well over the daily recommended intake of 95g for men and 70g for woman i.e all in one sitting!!.

The survey is part of an ongoing survey of various types of takeaway meals and we will publish details for Curry's, Pizza's, and Fish and Chips in later editions.

At present consumers are generally provided with nutritional information when buying pre-packed goods but they are less informed when buying Takeaways. This survey will help to address that lack of information and enable consumers to make informed choices based on our results. It is of course up to the consumer to decide what they will or won't eat and of course there is nothing wrong with high fat , high salt foods occasionally but for those who wish to eat healthier we hope this would be useful information in order to achieve a well balanced diet.

Licence your fruit machine

Later this year the laws are changing in respect to licensing premises involved in gambling and gaming. At a local level Tameside Council will take on responsibility for licensing premises that are involved with gambling and gaming including bingo halls, betting shops and amusement arcades. In relation to fruit machines the effect of the new laws mean that fruit machines, can only be played in pubs, clubs, amusement arcades and gambling premises. Fruit machines can no longer be operated from cafes, taxi offices, and late night takeaways. If businesses are unclear as to whether they have the necessary licences in place please contact Tameside's licensing section on 0161 301 1345

Get certified in Health and Safety

Preventing accidents and ill health caused by or at work is a key priority for everyone. This includes employers, employees and the self employed.

The stark facts are: over 200 people are killed every year in accidents at work; one million people are injured and over two million suffer illnesses caused or worsened by poor working conditions.

All business can play their part in reducing these disturbing figures by simply getting you and your staff trained in health and safety. The Health and Safety Course is presented by enthusiastic and experienced members of Tameside Environmental Services Section, which give the candidate a firm foundation in knowledge and awareness in good working practices.

The course includes accident and fire prevention, electrical and equipment safety, work at height and handling hazardous substances and covers the most common health and safety issues found in the workplace.

Our course is the Level 2 First Principles in Health and Safety course, which is nationally recognised and is externally accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental.

The course costs £50 per candidate, which includes tuition fees, an information pack, examination fees and your certificate. All courses are held at our Environment Centre, Ash Road, Droylsden.

For further information please contact the Environmental Services Section on 0161-342-3467 or log on to our web site www.tameside.gov.uk/foodsafety/training

Curry Chef Competition

A competition between Tameside's restaurants and take-aways looks to be hotting up again this year.

Friday June 29th is the final day for outlets to submit their entry forms for this year's competition, which aims to reward the work of the borough's talented curry cooks, as well as promoting healthy and hygienically prepared Asian food.

Part of Tameside's Food and Drink Festival 2007, the competition has been a resounding success in recent years, enthusiastically supported by restaurants throughout Tameside's towns.

There are two categories- best restaurant and best take-away, with winner and runners-up prizes for both. All finalise receive a certificate as well.

For more information or to obtain your registration form please contact Environmental Health on 0161 342 3467.

Flytipping Update

Prosecution of businessman for breaches of duty of care

A recent prosecution in Tameside Magistrates Court should act as a reminder to businesses to ensure they are acquainted with the law relating to disposal of waste and the duty of care .

On the 14th of February 2007 Mr Shakil Ahmed Bashir of Kintyre Drive, Bolton, was fined a total of £900 and ordered to pay £616 prosecution costs after pleading guilty to three charges under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 on the 7th of February.

Bashir had, just prior to the offences in November 2005, been involved in running Post Office premises at Greenside Lane Droylsden and had made arrangements to have refuse and redundant equipment including refrigerators, removed from the premises. He had employed two men who he only knew by their Christian names to remove the waste and this resulted in three separate incidents of fly tipping being spotted by Patrollers at Cypress Road, Leicester Avenue and Waverley Crescent, all in Droylsden.

Following an investigation by the Councils' Fly Tipping Enforcement Unit Mr Bashir was traced but was unable to identify the men who had taken his waste away, consequently breaching his duty of care by permitting the dumping of the waste.

Businesses must make proper arrangements for disposal of their trade waste. They must ensure that they only use registered waste carriers to dispose of their refuse and ensure that they have the paperwork to back this up.

No cold calling zones

Tameside Trading Standards are working with residents who no longer want uninvited salespeople calling at their door.

As part of ongoing crime prevention activities Trading Standards, with other agencies, are working to reduce distraction burglaries, bogus callers and rogue traders. Many callers at the door are genuine but some turn up unannounced and try and trick their way into your home, or may pose as builders, gardeners or use other guises and persuade you into paying large amounts of money for unnecessary work. It is now well established that distraction burglaries and rogue traders are linked.

Tameside Trading Standards now have three No Cold Calling Zones (NCCZ) in Denton and Hyde. The purpose of the schemes is to empower residents to have the confidence to say 'NO' to uninvited salespeople and to warn rogue traders and cold callers that they are unwelcome.

The areas chosen are based on police statistics, Trading Standards information and local knowledge. They are usually known 'hot spot' areas and may house vulnerable people of the community.

Each scheme has 100% support of all the residents, this is achieved by consultation, not only to get their consent but also to raise awareness of the issues and encourage community involvement.

Signs identifying the zones are erected at the end of the road and all residents receive an information pack, leaflet, etc. Any cold callers will be questioned by the resident and their details reported to Trading Standards who will then contact the person/trader making the call in the NCCZ and insist on future compliance.

Watch out for scams

A 2-½ year jail sentence has been handed out against the operator of a Data Protection Scam run from an address in Hyde following a 4 year investigation by Tameside Trading Standards, Merseyside Fraud Squad and the Information Commissioner. Francis Boyd from Liverpool was sentenced on the 29th of January for defrauding businesses nationally of over £400,000. Boyd, trading has Crown Data Collection Enforcement Agency posed as a government agency charging businesses £95 to register under the Data Protection Act 1988. The actual cost of registry is £35 with the Information Commissioner. In fact Boyd failed to register any business. His Honour Judge Mark Brown condemned such an enterprise as a “Scam cloaked with the appearance of Officialdom” and went on to praise the dedication of the Investigating Officers involved. He said in passing sentence that people committed this prevalent crime because they thought that it would be too difficult to investigate but that this case had shown how wrong they were.

Tameside Trading Standards is committed to stamp out this increasingly prevalent scourge of 21st century scams. In an attempt to establish how many scams are currently circulating Tameside Trading Standards have placed a bin in each of the boroughs libraries for you to post anything you think could be a scam. Unfortunately the Department only gets to know of a very small fraction of the scams that are on the market place. This way they hope to collect a lot more information.

'Whether it is an offer to enter the Spanish or Australian lottery or a chance to invest money in Nigeria or that you have won a prize in a draw, all wanting you to part with your money, then we want to know' says Dave Meakin, Head of Trading Standards. 'If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is'.

Bring your letters to the library and we will collect them and collate them and send our findings to the Scam Busting team at the Office of Fair Trading who is trying to introduce legislation to curb these schemes. The results of the most common scam in the Tameside area will then be posted at the libraries for you to see.

If you are not sure whether your letter/postcard or whatever is a scam then phone us on 0161 342 3467 for further information.