Campaigns

Campaigns

Our campaign work programme has been carefully developed from our Business Service Plan which in turn has been developed to provide both effective and timely responses to a wide range of important issues which come to the services attention. Typically many of these issues concern the safety of products, related issues around age restricted products such as Vaping products, the mis-description of goods and services and also doorstep crime and scams.

Issues come to the services attention from a wide range of sources including policy and legislation brought into force by Government, concerns expressed by local residents, visitors to the city, elected members, MP's, or intelligence and information received from external partners such as Northumbria Police, HMRC, Public Health England and other trading standard services. 

Information on the main campaigns to be developed through 2024/2025 can be found on the following webpages;

We have also previously conducted specific campaigns on imported cosmetic products, electrical safety, and copycat websites amongst others, and will continue to monitor and take direct enforcement action where any non-compliances are found. 

E-Bikes and E-Scooters Fire Safety Advice

E-bikes and e-scooters are becoming increasingly popular. Most are powered by lithium-ion batteries which can be charged in the home. The use of these batteries in a wide range of household products is becoming increasingly common.

It is important when charging e-bikes and e-scooters, you do so safely to avoid a risk of a fire starting and putting your families and homes at risk.

With an increased use of e-bikes and e-scooters, comes a corresponding fire safety concern associated with their charging and storage. The use of these products is expected to continue to rise. Some fire services and fire investigators have seen a rise in e-bike and e-scooter battery fires.

Currently there is limited data relating to the number of fires, but London Fire Brigade reported 8 fires caused by e-bikes and e-scooters in 2019. This rose to twenty-four in 2020 and fifty-nine by December 2021.

On occasions batteries can fail catastrophically, they can ‘explode’ and/or lead to a rapidly developing fire. For media stories go to: BBC News and Sky News of the 27 July 2023 and the Chronicle of the 31 July 2023. 

For further information go to NFCC and to  access the OPSS safety poster (pdf 203 kb).  

Newsletter

In order to highlight and promote the work of the City Council's Trading Standards Service, we publish a biannual newsletter. To access a copy of our newsletter go to High Standard (pdf 1.5 mb). If you would like to be placed on our email list to receive a copy of this newsletter and all future editions, please contact us.

Contact

Trading Standards Service, Directorate of City Operations, Neighbourhoods and Regulatory Services, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH. Email: tradingstandards@newcastle.gov.uk

Did you know?

Sale of Disposable Vapes To Be Banned 

The sale of disposable vapes will be banned in England from June 2025; the Government has confirmed.

Ministers say the move, first announced in January 2024 by the previous government but not enacted before the general election, is intended to prevent environmental damage, and protect children's health.

Disposable vapes are difficult to recycle and typically end up landfill, where their batteries can leak harmful waste like battery acid, lithium, and mercury into the environment, the Government said.

Batteries thrown into household waste also cause hundreds of fires in bin lorries and waste-processing centres every year.

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown into general waste each week last year, a nearly four-fold increase on the year before.

Defra's Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh, whose role focuses on reducing waste in the economy, said disposable vapes were “extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities". That is why we are banning single use vapes as we end this nation’s throwaway culture," she said.

Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said disposables had become the "product of choice for the majority of kids vaping today" and banning them would "reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people".

The Government plans to introduce legislation to ban the sale of disposable vapes from 1 June 2025, allowing retailers time to sell their remaining stock.

The measure is separate from Government plans to end smoking by banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after January 2009.

Related Pages

Need more information?

Trading Standards service, Directorate of City Operations, Neighbourhoods and Regulatory Services, Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH. Email: tradingstandards@newcastle.gov.uk  

Citizens Advice Consumer service: 0808 2231133

 

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