Final warning for rogues
Rogue publishing firms that con pubs are getting a final warning to stop the scams.
Letters are to be sent to suspected rogue publishers to coincide with tough new powers for trading standards against scammers.
Licensees have been conned into paying hundreds or thousands of pounds for ads in non-existent publications for good causes.
Trading standards in north-west England - where most of the scams originate - will make it clear to the scammers that action is planned under the new Business Protection from Misleading Marketing regulations.
The regulations are expected to allow civil injunctions to be taken against rogue firms - where the burden of proof will be less than for criminal prosecutions.
Authorities could apply for a court injunction to ensure firms don't make misleading statements. They could also carry out test purchases and enter premises without warrants.
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council trading standards manager John Malone said he knew of eight suspected scam publishers operating in his region.
"Most of these traders are based in the north west. Liverpool, Lancashire and Manchester [trading standards] have all decided that sending letters is the way we are going to go," he said.
"If we do need to go to court we can prove that we have tried to put them on the straight and narrow, but that they have ignored the advice."
Malone added: "We plan to send them out as soon as we get the final regulations."
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform said: "We expect Parliament to approve the draft regulations in the next few weeks."
Four rogue publishing firms recently wound up in high court
Four rogue publishing firms have been wound up in the High Court in the past two weeks.
All of the firms involved were continuations of other businesses that had been closed down.
The four firms are:
l Fire & Safety (UK) and Starlight Media (UK), based in Heswell, Merseyside. Both companies invoiced for ads that were never ordered in publications that were never produced. They received more than £100,000 between them in 12 months.
l Hourglass Design, Middleton, Manchester. It claimed to sell ad space in a safety awareness and advice journal by cold-calling small businesses. In 305 cases, companies had paid for ads that were never published.
l Glade Solutions, Pickford Street, Manchester. It claimed to produce two publications but neither emerged - although more than £25,000 had been paid in sponsorship.
The action followed investigations by the Insolvency Service.
