Robert Andrews, a Trading Standards Enforcement Officer at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, has received a London Trading Standards Award for making a significant impact on safeguarding in his community.
Robert Andrews (centre) collects his London Trading Standards Award with colleagues
Andrews, who has led on safeguarding in the borough since July 2021, was praised for finding new ways of reaching out to vulnerable and digitally excluded people, supporting victims of scams, and helping residents and businesses protect themselves against doorstep crime.
Like many local authorities, Barking and Dagenham has significant problems with doorstep crime and rogue trading activities. To combat this, Andrews has focused on building an effective prevention strategy, along with reactive interventions in cases where criminality has already taken place.
“I investigate and escalate cases from phone call scams and cold calls to big cases where serious fraud has been committed,” Andrews says. “I look at trends and use data and relationships with other boroughs to establish what’s hot and what’s not; for example, after high winds or a big weather event, I post things about cold callers and roofers to make people aware via social media that people may come calling.
“I also signpost people to Buy with Confidence, a Trading Standards-approved scheme that only approves TS-vetted traders.
“I attend coffee mornings, afternoons and evenings to talk to residents and try to help make them be scams-aware. And I give out leaflets and take-away information for them to read.”
Andrews also runs information stands in the local area, spreading information and advice on everything from e-bike and product safety to fraud. Through this engagement with local residents, he is able to demonstrate first-hand the tactics used by unscrupulous criminals to gain their trust. “I have branded uniforms with corporate logos to show residents how easy it would be for people to turn up unannounced pretending to be officials, and to perform distraction burglaries on the elderly or vulnerable by gaining trust as they are in a uniform,” he says.
Another innovative method of engagement Andrews has embraced is attending GP surgeries’ pop-up events, where he can tailor advice to specific groups with specific needs.
He also intervenes in individual cases where he feels he can make a difference. “I had an elderly resident who was cold-called, and pressured into having work done on a roof that was not needed.
“I visited the man and called the trader, whom I instructed that Trading Standards were involved, to get the scaffolding removed immediately, and not to return to the property. This was done within a couple of days and the resident had no problems since the intervention.
“This work does get results,” Andrews believes. “I have been working with our Officers and recently handed a case of high-level fraud to our specialist investigations team. This case, which relates to a rogue trader who started work and took the money but never finished the job, will be in court very soon.”
Andrews has also contributed to Barking and Dagenham’s press releases and other public information materials, and appears in videos which help to inform people about how to avoid scams.
And he has seen his hard work bear fruit, with tangible outcomes for local residents. In one case, he says, “A resident had gone to a hospital appointment in an ambulance, when a rogue trader knocked on a neighbour’s door and said that the resident had agreed for him to do works on their roof, at a cost of £170.
“The neighbour was scam-aware and knew the house was owned by the council, so no roof works would need to be done, and they ceased to engage with the trader. On seeing he wasn’t getting anywhere, the trader left without anything.”
