retail environment
ACS calls for rogue traders clampdown
The Association of Convenience Stores has launched a new campaign aimed at getting tougher sanctions for rogue traders.
The ‘Stop Rogue Traders’ campaign highlights 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.
As part of 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 a battalion of 400 additional enforcement officers, to tackle the scourge of rogue traders. With incoming regulations on additional duty on vaping products coming in October 2026, there has never been a more pressing time for the government to focus on backing responsible retailers.
ACS chief executive Ed Woodall said: “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”.
Figures from the 2026 ACS Crime Report show 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. Rogue businesses are currently operating without reproach, selling a wide range of dodgy and stolen products, including toys, electronics, vapes, tobacco, alcohol and staple grocery items.
The call follows government plans to launch a new £30m High Street organised crime unit following the BBC's year-long investigative reporting into illegal mini-marts, vape shops, and barbers.
Over 12 months BBC News exposed drug gangs, child sexual exploitation reports, money laundering, immigration crime, and ghost directors linked to shop fronts selling illegal cigarettes and illegal vapes.
The law enforcement response will be run across the UK by the National Crime Agency (NCA) over the next three years - with a cash boost for trading standards.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) suggested cuts to its members' resources under previous governments had helped allow serious and organised crime to gain a foothold in high streets.
The government has also pledged to carry out a review on how to strengthen law enforcement powers - as well as consulting on extending the length of closure orders to shut criminal businesses down for longer, an area the CTSI said needed to be changed.
Under the government plans:
· Shops will face raids, closures, and cash seizures in a crackdown by police and trading standards over the next three years
· Some £20m of funding will go towards the NCA and there will be 75 new police officers in three hotspot regions - in the Greater Manchester, West Midlands, and Essex and Kent forces
· £6m of funding will go to trading standards
· The remainder of the funding - £3.75m - will be split between immigration enforcement, HMRC and the running of the unit.
The Stop Rogue Traders campaign hub can be found here.
