Warwickshire Trading Standards February 2026 Update and additional advice

Warwickshire Trading Standards February 2026 Update and additional advice

Hi Resident,

Please find attached the Trading Standards February 2026 update shared from Simon Cripwell, Trading Standards Officer at Warwickshire Trading Standards.

Please also find below some additional advice from Trading Standards/Which?/CEnTSA.

Freeze Out Rogue Roofers

After the recent stormy weather, rogue roofers are out in force – and one (Walsall) resident has just seen a £20 roof repair spiral into over £26,000 after a cold-calling trader claimed to find “urgent” problems that didn’t exist.

Over four days, the trader kept increasing the cost and pressuring the resident into more and more unnecessary work. Trading Standards is now investigating this as a criminal offence.

Don’t get caught out. Say NO to snowballing repair costs.

Our advice:

Don’t use traders who cold call

If someone says there’s a problem with your roof, get a trusted recommendation

Always get three quotes before agreeing to any work

Real roofers won’t:

cold call

claim they’re “working on a roof nearby”

work without proper scaffolding

damage tiles to create fake problems

Stay safe, stay sceptical – and help us freeze out rogue roofers this winter.

For the full stories: Rogue Roofers – CEnTSA

Selling Your Car? Stay Safe

Bogus car buyers take your car but fail to make the payment. This means the money never arrives in your bank account.

Do not hand over the keys until the money is in your bank.

Do not trust screenshots or emails saying you’ve been paid - these can be faked.

Only trust what you see in your own bank account.

If they try to rush you, walk away. No money = no keys = no car.

3 phone scams to watch out for right now

Binance scam message

Heathrow scam call

Home emergency cover

Find out how to spot and avoid the most common phone scams.

More information here: Phone scams to watch out for right now - Which?

Beware of Amazon 'one-time passcode' scams.

Know the signs of this sneaky trick fraudsters use to get into your Amazon account.

More information here: Beware of Amazon 'one-time passcode' scams - Which?

A four-year-old boy died days after swallowing two small magnets.

An inquest revealed he ate two 1cm-by-1cm pink magnets that were on his fridge.

Those magnets attracted together inside his body, tearing a hole in his bowel. This led to acute sepsis and the heart attack that killed him. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated incident. For safety guidance see the image below.

More information here: A four-year-old boy died days after swallowing two small magnets

Please feel free to distribute this information further as you feel appropriate

To make a consumer complaint, obtain consumer help and advice or report an issue to Trading Standards, please contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.

For consumer or business help and advice, including details of our approved trader scheme, please visit our website: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards

Kind regards

Colin

Attachments

Warwickshire Trading Standards Partner Update_Feb26.pdf

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Message Sent By
Colin Cartwright
(NWN, Warwickshire Chairman, MSA for Warwickshire & supporting West Midlands, Warwickshire & West Midlands)