Half of independent convenience stores and newsagents inspected by trading standards are found to have inaccurate and misleading pricing. A fact which leaves them open to potential criminal pros­ecution.

Nearly 100 councils provided data following hundreds of freedom-of-information requests sent by Better Retailing’s sister title, RN, this sum­mer. This investigation uncovered more than 5,000 inspections of pricing in stores and other businesses since the beginning of 2021.

Based on the councils that provided the store names for each inspec­tion, nearly 50% of local newsagents and conveni­ence stores were found to have breached laws requiring accurate prices to be displayed on shelves.

The figure was higher for stores not trading as part of symbol or franchise groups. More than three of every five visits to unaffiliated stores discovered breaches of the law. In comparison, 6% of inspections at major grocery chains discovered failings. Of the major symbol groups and franchises, Nisa stores achieved the highest compliance rate, with 89% inspected with­out issue. That was followed by One Stop (87%), and then Spar and Londis (77%).

Best-one and Lifestyle Express had the worst compliance rates at 34% and 43%, respectively.

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Lack of inspections

Despite the widespread non-compliance, a third of trading standards teams that provided data said they had not conducted a single pricing inspection since at least 2021. The responses also show councils are ignoring guidance from the Com­petition and Markets Au­thority to add price checks into every store visit.

Since the guidance was sent to councils this year, half of these trading standards teams are yet to record a single check. Many are blam­ing low resources and staff shortages.

Stores failing to comply with the requirement face fines of up to £5,000 and criminal convictions.

However, the investi­gation by RN uncovered just one example of a shop owner being taken to court.

To read the full story, pick up 20 September’s edition of RN.

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