The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has launched a new campaign aimed at getting tougher sanctions for rogue traders operating in the illicit trade.
Its ‘Stop Rogue Traders’ campaign aims to highlight the scale of the problem facing communities, signposts existing resources for reporting illicit activity, and calls for action from Government to get rogue traders off the streets.
Figures from the 2026 ACS Crime Report revealed that 85% of convenience retailers reported seeing an increase in illicit activity in their area, with one in four seeing stolen products being resold locally.
Through the campaign, ACS is calling for key changes to policy, further funding and stronger powers to help Trading Standards tackle the problem, including:
- Embed action to tackle rogue traders in the Government’s national High Streets Strategy and encourage all local authorities to do the same locally
- Issuing closure orders quickly and for longer periods to shut down those selling illicit products
- Give police powers to access tobacco track and trace data so they can identify the origin of stolen products and share intelligence effectively
- Better ways to report illicit activity directly which are accessible at all times
- Significant extra funding for Trading Standards to enforce locally
Research conducted by ACS with Trading Standards experts in 2024 found that enforcement authorities needed an additional £140m over five years, including 400 additional enforcement officers, to tackle rogue traders.
ACS chief executive Ed Woodall outlined the harm illicit trade is doing to the sector. “The illicit trade is causing serious harm to responsible retailers across the country, both in terms of their bottom line and the wider reputation of the convenience sector. We are calling on the Government to take targeted action to get rogue traders off the streets and put in place effective deterrents that keep them away from our communities. As part of the campaign, we’re urging all retailers who see illicit activity in their area to report it immediately to Trading Standards.”
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