No cold calling scheme
Redcar & Cleveland Trading Standards’ No Cold Calling Home scheme gives residents the choice whether to receive uninvited doorstep calls from traders by displaying a door sticker.
The stickers are worded with reference to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 informing cold callers that if they conduct a personal visit to a home displaying the sticker, ignoring the homeowner’s request for them to leave or not return, they may commit a criminal offence.
Trading Standards will, where possible, contact a business which cold calls at a home displaying a sticker and remind them of their legal obligations. Consideration will be given to taking legal action where appropriate.
To Obtain a No Cold Calling Home Pack
Telephone 01287 612489 or email tradingstandards@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk
Register Your Sticker
You can register your sticker with Trading Standards by using the form in your pack and posting it to Trading Standards Service, Redcar & Cleveland House, Kirkleatham Street, Redcar, TS10 1RT or register online:
Reporting an Incident of Cold Calling
Contact Trading Standards via our partner agency Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133, use the reporting form in your No Cold Calling Home pack, (forms can be sent by post to Trading Standards Service, Redcar & Cleveland House, Kirkleatham Street, Redcar, TS10 1RT), or report online:
If an incident is in progress and you feel threatened or intimidated, or someone is in danger and the caller is still at your property or is due to return, contact the police on 999. For non-emergencies contact 101.
No Cold Calling Newsletter
The No Cold Calling Newsletter issued twice a year is full of useful information and guidance about how to detect and protect yourself from doorstep crime and other types of scams. You can find the most recent newsletter available to download below:
Advice for business
Cold Calling is the act of making unrequested and unwanted visits to a consumer’s, home with the intention of selling goods/services or buying items from householders. In December 2014 Redcar and Cleveland Trading Standards set up a No Cold Calling Home project designed to reduce instances of doorstep crime.
The main purpose of Trading Standards’ No Cold Calling Home initiative is to deter rogue traders calling door to door selling goods and services and give residents the confidence to say no and send unwanted cold callers away from their property.
The stickers are not designed to prevent the following from calling:
- Traders calling as part of a regular round, (for example, milk or newspaper delivery person)
- Callers who leave a catalogue, (for example, Avon)
- Utility services such as Gas, Electricity and Water who call to read the meter
- Political groups canvassing for election purposes
- Religious groups
- Market researchers unless the visit is in relation to the selling or promotion of goods and services
- Charities or their agents posting charity bags through letterboxes.
No Cold Calling Zones
The No Cold Calling Home initiative exists alongside the four No Cold Calling Zones currently in operation at:
- Severn Road, Redcar
- Stump Cross, Guisborough
- Grosmont Place, Grangetown
- Woodcock Close, Eston