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Trading Standards
I went to work for Cambridgeshire Trading Standards Service in 1995. I impressed the interview panel before I even arrived, as the letter they had sent me instructed me to arrive five minutes before the start of the interview - but the building was closed and I'd had to wait. My calm composure in the face of adversity and ability to laugh at the situation was a winning combination.
I learned a lot about human nature as an advice officer for Trading Standards, as well as consumer law. I realised that it didn't matter how nervous I was, because when I went into a shop and told them that I was from Trading Standards, the person behind the counter was usually more nervous. I scored some great successes with holiday firms, used car salesmen and security companies, and had some very strange complaints to deal with.
- There was the 'fingernails in the bread' incident - they turned out to be wheat husk.
- There was a man who removed all the stringy bits from his bag of frozen runner beans, stuck them to a sheet of A4 paper and complained that they affected the weight of the bag.
- There was an old man complaining about a 99p baking tray warping in the oven - who had already complained to the shop and the manufacturer and had two replacements - but still complained.
- Not to mention the faulty sex toy which I will have to leave to the imagination.
I took one case all the way to the county court - my extensive small claims court knowledge was a bonus in the job and I helped the sweet elderly lady who'd been fleeced by a security firm get her money back. It was satisfying to watch the defendant squirm in front of the District Judge and hand over that cheque, result!
Suffolk
I moved to Suffolk Trading Standards Service in 1996. The job wasn't as hands-on and I wasn't encouraged to get as involved in the dispute resolution as I had been at Cambridge. When I wasn't parroting out the sale and supply of goods act on the telephone, I was more involved in publicity and promotion of the service.
I set up a weekly advice surgery for Felixstowe Citizens Advice Bureau, where I'd get to meet people with complex problems that the CAB advisers couldn't deal with, and trained other organisations in Suffolk in consumer law.
I also started to exercise some creative talent, researching specific areas of law and writing advice leaflets that we'd distribute on the swanky 'Advice Trailer' that toured the county handing out sage advice to confused consumers. Some of the vists we did were legendary - the Saturday we spent in Tesco car park in Lowestoft was a case in point. Safety inspectors were carrying out free safety checks on children's car seats all day. And we were shouted at by an old man who thought we were a waste of his council tax. Great, that's what I got up at 6am on a Saturday for...
I moved on to other things in 1999, when I relocated back to Cambridge and started the first of my temporary contracts for Cambridge University.
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