Mobility aid sellers in spotlight

3 February 2012 Last updated at 12:25 GMT Some elderly people and their families have complained about doorstep sales of mobility aids Action has been taken against mobility aid traders in the UK following a warning from the regulator over sales of the products.

In September, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) raised concerns about sales of stairlifts and other aids to elderly and disabled people.

Now it has removed the credit licences of two people, and overseen a revamp of contracts by another firm.

Investigations are also continuing into doorstep sales by a national trader.

Licence removal

Last year, the OFT said it had received thousands of complaints about sales of these aids, such as stairlifts, scooters, special chairs and adjustable beds.

Some victims found the equipment they were promised failed to turn up or was overpriced.

There is nothing to prevent traders knocking on doors, although there are rules on what they can do once they gain entry to a potential customer's home.

The regulator has now revoked the consumer credit licences of Amarjit Gill and his business associate Ranjit Dhami over concerns about how they sold mobility aids.

Amarjit Gill, who traded as ABM Mobility, breached consumer protection legislation, including using aggressive sales techniques, despite warnings from Derbyshire Trading Standards.

Ranjit Dhami held a separate licence and had traded as A.B.M., Phoenix 1000, Eurostar, Star Enterprises and Phoenix Enterprises. She was judged unfit to hold a credit licence by the OFT because of her association with Amarjit Gill's business.

A separate investigation into Yorkshire-based Acorn Mobility Services Limited has led to the company amending its contracts to change potentially unfair terms, and to overhaul its customer service procedures.

"We warned traders that unless they stopped using aggressive sales techniques and unfair business practices to sell mobility aids they would face enforcement, and that is what we are doing," said OFT director David Fisher.

"We will take further action, working in partnership with local trading standards services, if there is evidence of unfair trading or where fitness to hold a credit licence is called into question."

Cold front ad for Mini backfires

2 February 2012 Last updated at 12:49 GMT Snow and ice have made many forms of travel in Germany a challenge in recent days An advertising agency for BMW has paid to name a cold weather front sweeping Europe "Cooper" in Germany, after the carmaker's Mini Cooper.

But the public-relations stunt by the agency went wrong after the freezing conditions led to dozens of deaths.

Germany's meteorology institute allows the sponsorship of weather systems.

On its website, advertising agency Sassenbach says that naming the front after the open-air vehicle was a "wind- and weather-proof idea".

It is encouraging people to follow the path of the weather on meteorological websites.

While the snow and ice have brought some stunning scenes across Europe, the freezing temperatures have led to at least 100 deaths, mainly in Poland and Ukraine.

In Ukraine alone, nearly 950 people are being treated in hospital with hypothermia and frostbite, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The Munich-based advertising agency said it was no longer commenting on the unfortunate correlation between the progress of the severe weather and the car it sought to publicise.

It has also named a warmer weather front to follow "Minnie".

BMW has apologised for the stunt, which cost the advertising firm 229 euros (£190).

In a statement, the carmaker said it could not influence exactly when names for weather fronts would be used, or what a weather system would do.

It said it deeply regretted that the weather front had taken on "catastrophic proportions" and claimed so many lives.

The meteorological institute's "Adopt a Vortex" scheme has been running since 2002, with the money raised helping to fund weather monitoring at Berlin's Free University.

The institute is the only one outside the US which names weather systems.

High Streets bid for £1m funding

4 February 2012 Last updated at 06:01 GMT Mary Portas recommended that town centres be managed through new "town teams" The government is looking for 12 run down High Streets in England to share £1m as part of plans proposed by TV retail guru Mary Portas.

Areas will bid for support from a dedicated team and Ms Portas herself.

The scheme was described as a "golden ticket" for town centres by local government minister, Grant Shapps.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, has said that the pilot "simply tinkers around the edges".

"We urge the government to step up and give councils some real power," said its spokesman Peter Box.

"Councils don't want to see short-term schemes - instead they want to see some firm action and a commitment from all government departments and agencies."

But ministers said it was hoped other towns would "adopt and implement the ideas" in the pilots.

A spokesman at the Department for Communities and Local Government added: "Far from tinkering around the edges, these pilots will have every opportunity to bring real and lasting change to the role of our High Streets to turn them into places local people want to be.

"We want to see ambitious and innovative schemes that test the potential of the recommendations Mary Portas put forward."

No magic bullet

The British Retail Consortium, which represents Britain's retail industry, has been positive about the plan but pointed out that £1m spread amongst 12 town centres will not go far.

"High streets are a fundamental part of our communities and need to move with the times," said Tom Ironside, director of business at the British Retail Consortium in a statement.

"Introducing pilots to address specific local issues could identify new innovations and approaches which might also work elsewhere. But this is no magic bullet and must be accompanied by other steps, as swiftly as possible."

In the same statement Mr Ironside called for a change to the 5.6% rate of tax for business rates which is set to come into effect in April.

'Town teams'

Ms Portas, the star of TV show Mary Queen of Shops, was appointed to advise the government on town centres in 2011.

As part of her review, Ms Portas recommended that town centres be managed through new "town teams" who would be responsible for developing businesses in the area.

The competition acts on this and introduces town teams, made up of landlords, shopkeepers, residents, and the local authority and asks them to come up with a vision for their High Street.

Other ideas from her review range from introducing market stalls and free parking schemes to cutting restrictions on night-time deliveries.

UK download speed gains 'uneven'

2 February 2012 Last updated at 00:02 GMT New advertising rules will limit how fast ISPs can market their "up to" speeds after April The UK's average home download speed is on the rise, but it could be even faster if more users upgraded at minimal cost, according to Ofcom.

November's average broadband speed was 7.6 megabits per second, up from 6.8Mbps in May, says the regulator.

Upgrades offered by Virgin Media and BT helped boost the figure.

Ofcom says many of the 42% of homes which subscribe to speeds of 10Mbps or less would benefit from switching deal or provider at little or no cost.

The 22% headline speed bump is a notable improvement, according to the price comparison website broadbandchoices.co.uk.

"In reality, the average speed increase of 1.4Mbits will save you around 6 minutes when downloading a 2 hour film," said Michael Philips, the firm's product director.

"This doesn't sound a lot but faster connections improve your general web-surfing experience and are definitely worth the investment, for example if more than one person shares the connection in a household."

Ofcom noted that the price difference between many of the so-called super-fast services and current generation connections was "relatively small".

It said Plusnet customers could roughly double their promised speed to "up to" 40Mbps by swapping to a service with the firm that cost £5 more a month.

It said TalkTalk clients could enjoy a similar gain by paying their provider an extra £10 a month, while one of BT's deals offered an equivalent speed bump at no extra charge.

Marketing restrictions The figures are contained in Ofcom's sixth study into residential fixed-line broadband performance.

It is the first report since internet service providers were told they would only be able to claim a maximum speed if it was available to 10% of their customers.

The new rules come into effect in April. Using them as a guide Ofcom provided a breakdown of its figures saying that:

6Mbps was the average speed for services advertised as "up to" 8Mbps14Mbps was the average speed for connections advertised as "up to" 20/24Mbps

The regulator said speed upgrades offered by Virgin Media and BT accounted for most of the period's gains.

Virgin Media's "up to" 50Mbps cable deal was the fastest surveyed offering average download speeds of nearly 49Mbps. The firm's 100Mbps service was not included in the research.

BT's roll-out of FFTC (fibre to the cabinet) technology helped boost its statistics. The move involves running fibre from its exchanges to street cabinets which are then linked to homes by normal telephone lines.

Since the cabinets are closer to most homes than the exchanges, users enjoy faster speeds.

Ofcom says 58% of UK homes with broadband subscribe to speeds advertised as above 10Mbps

It has led to the creation of the firm's Infinity offer which promises "up to" 40Mbps. The service was found to provide an average speed of 36Mbps.

'Disappointing'

The study said that other ISPs "did not change significantly" over the six months.

Orange's "up to" 20Mbps ADSL service fared worst out of the maximum-speed offers surveyed. It was found to provide average download speeds of 7.2Mbps.

The firm said it believed the next report would show an improvement.

"It's disappointing to see the outcome of this survey, although it was not unexpected as it was conducted last year as we were moving a large number of our customers to our new broadband network," a statement said.

"Since this time, we have completed the migration and the vast majority of our customers have seen a significant improvement in the download speeds they receive."

The news site thinkbroadband.com said the research also highlighted the need for investment in out-of-town connections.

"Rural areas have an average of 3.3Mbps versus urban at 8.8Mbps," said the firm's editor Andrew Ferguson.

Ofcom says it plans to publish the next report in July, using data collected from tests run in May.

Summary of data speeds sampled by Ofcom in November 2011:

Service Average download speeds

New Virgin staff pay for checks

3 February 2012 Last updated at 23:53 GMT By Bob Howard Reporter, Money Box Virgin Atlantic requires all new staff to pay for their own security checks Virgin Atlantic is forcing hundreds of new staff each year to pay for their own criminal record checks after referring them to an employment screening firm.

New staff at the airline's call centre in Swansea have been asked to pay £25 for the background check.

Department of Transport rules require criminal checks for air-side staff but not for other airline employees.

Virgin Atlantic says its recruitment process has to be extremely thorough.

The airline employs around 8,500 people worldwide and recruits hundreds of staff in the UK each year.

The issue was highlighted after a recent graduate contacted BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme.

Having recently been offered a job in Virgin Atlantic's call centre, she says she was contacted by a firm called Procius, which does pre-employment screening on behalf of Virgin Atlantic.

The graduate, who did not want to be identified, says she was asked to create an online profile with Procius.

Continue reading the main story

Safety and security within the airline industry is of paramount importance and Virgin Atlantic has to be extremely thorough throughout the recruitment process”

End Quote Virgin Atlantic "Before the online profile could be completed, I was requested to pay £25 to cover the costs of the reference check.

She told Money Box there was no mention of a fee when Virgin Atlantic first contacted her about Procius, and she did not like having to pay the fee before really understanding what the check was for.

However, she felt obliged to pay the fee if she wanted to secure the job she was being offered.

Virgin Atlantic and Procius say the £25 was for a criminal record check.

Procius insists that this is made clear when employees are asked to make the payment.

Such checks are often outsourced to agencies by big firms who want to check the credentials of people who they offer jobs to.

The Trades Union Congress believes the number of firms requesting checks, either directly or through pre-employment screening firms, is growing.

Helen Reid, the TUC's senior employment rights officer, says firms should be paying the fees to cover such checks, not newly employed staff:

"They should be footing the bill," said Ms Reid.

"It's unreasonable to expect people - particularly who've faced unemployment for a long period of time - to pay £25 in order to be considered for a job."

The graduate undergoing the check following her job offer from Virgin Atlantic says that if the company wanted to screen her, it was in a much better position to absorb the cost than she was:

"I have been left feeling that I am being taken advantage of by companies who are well aware of how difficult it is to find employment, and have realised that they can charge ridiculous fees for even the simplest reference check."

In a statement Virgin Atlantic said: "Safety and security within the airline industry is of paramount importance and Virgin Atlantic has to be extremely thorough throughout the recruitment process.

"In common with many other employers, we ask all new employees to pay a £25 fee for a criminal record check."

The requirements of other employers in the airline industry varies.

British Airways says air-side staff who require a criminal record check have to pay themselves, whilst BMI says it pays for its staff to get their security clearance.

Servisair, the ground handling firm, says it asks staff to pay themselves but then refunds them when they start working for the company.

Money Box is broadcast on Saturdays at 12:00 GMT on BBC Radio 4 and repeated on Sundays at 21:00 GMT. You can listen again via the BBC iPlayer or by downloading Money Box podcast.