Hard sell: A Lincoln firm selling cleaning products has been fined £17,000 in a case relating to unfair trade practices across the county.
Lincoln-based Kirby Cleaner retailer Elite Systems and Fiaz Mughal, one of the two directors of the company, have been fined collectively over £17,000, for unfair trade practices across Lincolnshire.
Complaints were made to Consumer Direct that Elite was seeking business and selling Kirby Cleaners, via free prize draws. The prize was supposedly a free carpet clean, but turned out to be a sales demonstration involving high-pressure selling.
The Trading Standards Service at Lincolnshire County Council investigated the complaints, and in June 2009 officers executed a search warrant at Elite’s premises, seizing a number of items and documents. These included details on customers’ homes, cars, and wealth.
Seven charges were laid, with both defendants entering not guilty pleas. Trading Standards said it had no reason to believe the prize draw, run by a third party Kirby company, did not take place.
Giving evidence in court, one consumer explained how he had been misled by Elite about the nature of their visit to his home. At one point he had asked the salesman to leave but they had refused, and then gave the ‘hard sell’ for a cleaner the consumer did not want.
Another consumer gave evidence about a telephone call from Elite pretending to be from a competitor, gaining access to their home and providing a service through deception. An ex member of staff confirmed that she had been told to mislead customers about where she was calling from.
The magistrates found that Elite and Mughal had contravened the requirements of professional diligence by providing false information and applying undue pressure on customers to buy their product.
“By hiding the true commercial intent this company deceitfully got a foot in the door of the average consumer who would not otherwise have agreed,” said Nick Dawes, Divisional Manager at Trading Standards.
“The prize draw tickets contained personal information gathered by the company allowing them to target potential customers; I don’t believe that the average person would be very happy accepting a free prize draw ticket knowing that information was being written on the stub about them,” Dawes added.
A dramatic video shows a car engulfed in flames in the car park at Lincoln County Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
An on-call crew from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue attended the scene on Greetwell Road shortly before 5pm on Tuesday, April 13.
The crew used one hose reel to extinguish the fire and fortunately no casualties were reported.
The car is probably a write-off. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Dramatic pictures from the scene show the severe damage that was caused to the front of the car.
Fall in county infections but a Boston spike
There have been 50 new coronavirus cases and three COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — compared to 58 cases and no deaths this time last week.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 26 new cases in Lincolnshire, 19 in North Lincolnshire and five in North East Lincolnshire.
On Tuesday, three deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, none in North East Lincolnshire and -1 in North Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England has reported two new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust hospitals.
On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,472 to 4,375,814, while deaths rose by 23 to 127,123.
In local news, people aged over 45 can now book their COVID vaccinations on the NHS website after the government reached its target of offering a first dose to the nine most vulnerable groups.
There were recently some technical difficulties for people accessing the NHS website, but vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the issues have been fixed – book a vaccine online here and find out if you are eligible.
Over the weekend, Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate has fallen, with a spike in Boston only.
Similarly, the England average has also seen a drop in infections, but still remains nearly half Greater Lincolnshire’s rates.
Lincoln has dropped by more than half over the weekend and now has one of the smallest rates in the UK, with just 9.1 per 100,000 of the population infected with COVID-19.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s COVID-19 infection rates up to April 12:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Apr 5 to Apr 12. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
In national news, Boris Johnson has warned that the reduction in coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths “has not been achieved” by the rollout of COVID vaccines.
The prime minister, speaking the day after the latest easing of lockdown restrictions, instead said it was the national shutdown that had been “overwhelmingly important” in driving down COVID rates.
England is giving out its first doses of the Moderna jab, the third COVID-19 vaccine in the nation’s rollout.
It will be available at 21 sites, included the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Sheffield Arena.
Along with the Pfizer jab, it offers an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under-30s, after concerns about a possible link to very rare blood clots.
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
58,772 cases (up 50)
2,184 deaths (up three)
of which 1,302 hospital deaths (up two)
4,375,814 UK cases, 127,123 deaths
There will be another Kill The Bill protest in Lincoln next week, rallying against a new government bill that diminishes protesting rights.
Protests have been rife across the country since the government’s proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was first discussed, with scenes turning violent in Bristol.
Over two hundred people peacefully took part in the city’s first march at Speakers’ Corner on April 3, including Extinction Rebellion activists and Socialist and Labour supporters.
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Now, after a post started doing the rounds on social media, another protest has apparently been scheduled for 2pm on Monday, April 17 at the same location on Lincoln High Street, as part of a national day of action.
A poster promoting a second event has been shared across social media platforms.
Protests are lawful once again after the government eased lockdown restrictions on March 29, but organisers are required to submit a risk assessment prior to any event.
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Organisers of the last protest were in close communication with police to make the event safe, and The Lincolnite has asked Lincolnshire Police if they have been made aware of another protest, but are yet to receive a reply.
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