Trading Standards now apparently has rapid response units - sounds a funny concept. Certainly, when I first heard it broadcast on a stand-up routine on Radio 4, the comic found it very funny, going on about the recall of teddy bears with dodgy glass eyes and TSOs screaming to the rescue.

I rather feared that Trading Standards' rapid response unit might be used to rush to retailers' stores after reported sightings of underaged kids trying to buy cigs and booze. And that wouldn't be funny at all.

However, a browse of various TSOs' websites revealed that the rapid response units have been created to combat bogus trading, cases where individuals are cold-called and tricked or pressurised into paying large sums of money, often for poor goods and services.

Now, wouldn't it be nice if TSOs mounted such a campaign to combat the various cons practised on small businesses?

Topics