There's an enormous black market in the UK. The black market for tobacco alone is worth a staggering £5BN a year.
And although trading standards do raids on outlets, the criminal gangs behind them manage to get alternative venues up and running within days, assisted by a network of spotters to give advanced warning of further action by the authorities.
Obviously this black market trade kills trade for small businesses all over the country. They probably don't do tooo much harm to the larger retailers as they're able to sell goods cheap, but the kind of people in the market for cheap knock-offs would likely be those forced to shop local.
OFC it's probably false economy shopping on the black market: no guarantee of quality at all and of course no recourse to legal remedies if you get sold a lemon, or wood chippings and asbestos in the case of fake tobacco, I mean what do the gangs care?!?
Then of course there's all the supply side damage with supporting criminal gangs who are probably networked into violence and slave labour somewhere along the line.
I think part of the problem with effective enforcement is that the authorities don't appreciate how demanding it is for frontline Trading Standards officers....
A first good measure would be to extend Trading Standards closure orders to 12 months and reduce the red tape, so enforcement action has bite.
Then maybe we could recognise that Trading Standards officers face real physical and legal dangers. Being fully integrated with the police or joining joint task forces would be safer for frontline staff.
Sniffer Dogs are apparently very effective at finding contraband - we could use sniffer dogs more widely — especially in areas with high levels of illegal commerce—to rapidly find concealed contraband.
But probably most importantly of all we need more community-based intelligence... we could encourage citizens to provide anonymous tips on suspicious behavior, helping law enforcement agencies monitor patterns and act prior to criminal behavior gaining traction.
Local Councils could also do more....empty storefronts are a welcome mat for criminal networks. By reusing sites for healthcare centers, low-cost housing, or community purposes, councils can make it difficult for illegal operators to come in and bring vitality back to our streets at the same time!
It's just one of those things that's crept up on us I think and it's not rocket science to reduce the amount of black market products hitting our streets, and we've not got a lot to lose if we did so!
