The trading standards team at Barking and Dagenham Council has been recognised for its excellent work in anti-counterfeiting enforcement at the annual Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) Awards.

It’s been a successful year for the team with a significant number of seizures and prosecutions, both online and in physical premises, with one case seeing officers recover over 60,000 items of fake clothing.

Awards are given for three different categories; individual, department and special commendation and are judged by an awards panel. Barking and Dagenham Council’s trading standards team were nominated by trademark representatives and received a departmental award. 

Councillor Margaret Mullane, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “Our trading standards team work tirelessly to ensure that traders and local businesses are operating legally and in so doing protect our residents.

“I’m over the moon that their hard work has been recognised and I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff for ensuring that our residents are shopping in a safe environment.”

The ACG Awards were introduced in 1994 to recognise the fantastic enforcement work that is happening in the fight against the trade in counterfeit goods.

If a resident is concerned about a trader or business, they can report them to tradingstandards@lbbd.gov.uk.