Advice and support for businesses

Information and resources for local businesses, including a business directory.

Trading Standards

Trading Standards is responsible for the enforcement of a wide range of legislation governing the supply and marketing of goods and services at all levels in the marketplace.

We advise Hillingdon residents and businesses on aspects of criminal law and enforce the law relating to:

  • age restricted sales
  • product safety
  • claims and descriptions  
  • weights and measures
  • trade marks / counterfeiting
  • unfair trading practices
  • scams and doorstep crime
  • letting agents
  • illegal money lending
  • tobacco sales

Our current priorities are to: 

  • protect vulnerable residents from rogue traders
  • reduce anti-social behaviour using a range of activities and actions to control the sale of age-restricted goods
  • block counterfeit goods being traded in Hillingdon in order to protect legitimate businesses
  • ensure that goods sold in Hillingdon are safe
  • enforce legislation governing the accuracy of commercial weighing and measuring equipment

Advice for businesses

Whether you are currently trading or thinking about setting up a new business, we are here to help you understand the requirements of the law and ensure you observe it.

Online business advice, provided by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, can be found on the Business Companion website.

If you can't find what you need there, or you require further advice, you can call us on 01895 250164 on Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm where you will be able to speak to our helpful officers. You can also email us at tradingstandards@hillingdon.gov.uk with any questions you have. We can only give advice to businesses in Hillingdon.

Advice for consumers

To report a problem to Trading Standards and receive advice, your first point of call should be the Citizens Advice consumer helpline.

This government funded consumer advice service provides free, confidential and impartial advice on consumer problems with goods and services. You can call the consumer helpline on freephone 0808 223 1133 or visit their website where you can register a complaint online.

The helpline is open 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday.  

If we need to investigate matters, we will take the details from Citizens Advice and deal with the issue. Although not every single complaint can be investigated, the information is used to help set priorities for enforcement actions or educational initiatives. We will only contact you if we require further information.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can report consumer crime online anonymously using the London Trading Standards website.

If you would like to volunteer to help us find traders who are prepared to sell age-restricted products to young people, get in touch with us.

London Trading Standards have released a document with information about doorstep callers,  London Trading Standards - Doorstep callers (PDF, 9 MB).

Page last updated: 20 Jun 2023