Warnings issued over rogue door-to-door fishmongers

OFFICIALS are warning about rogue fishmongers charging high prices for large quantities of fish that turned out to be off.

Derbyshire Trading Standards are warning consumers to be vigilant after several reports about individuals selling fish door-to-door.

The complaints have come in since lockdown restrictions have started to lift and suggest rogue fish salesmen are back doing the rounds.

A Derbyshire Trading Standards spokesperson said: “Typically these traders will try to sell customers a large quantity of poor quality fish at a high price. They are known to travel nationally, cold-calling consumers’ homes selling fish which is often misdescribed, mislabelled or unlabelled, overpriced and sometimes underweight.

“They usually travel in Transittype vans which may not be refrigerated.”

Officials advise if people are tempted into purchasing, to first check these vital points:

■■Is the fish labelled with a description, weight marked, a ‘price per kilo’ and a selling price, as required by law?

■■Is the van refrigerated?

■■Can you be sure the fish is fresh?

■■Is the van marked with the trader’s details?

■■Does the trader have a price list of products?

■■If people are uncertain, they are advised to ask for a price list and to telephone to place the order at a later time. Any reasonable trader will be happy to do this if it leads to regular custom.

Trading standards always advise consumers not to deal with traders who cold-call. If you wish to report such an issue, you can call Citizen’s Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 2231133.