Dr Brian Iddon MP Pushes the Issue of Pedlars in Parliament

Bolton South East MP, Brian Iddon has today been putting pressure on Trade Ministers on the issue of pedlars and street trading regulations. Dr Iddon, who currently has a Private Members Bill on street trading before the House, asked Ministers whether they had made an assessment of how well the current regulatory framework for street trading was working.

Citing the number of local authorities who were currently taking out individual private legislation and those who were considering pursuing it, Dr Iddon pushed the department to commit to looking more closely as his Bill as a mechanism to save local authorities considerable amounts of money.

The legislation which controls the activities of pedlars dates back to 1871, pedlars are defined as “a person who trades on foot from town to town carrying their goods for sale.” Pedlars purchase their certificates from the local police authority for a minimal charge and are then allowed to trade across the country.

However local authorities have for some time been noticing pedlars remaining in one spot on a high street and trading from a stationary position in direct contravention of their certificate. This means they are able to undercut legitimate street traders as their overhead costs are lower and the quality of the goods they sell are difficult to monitor. Prosecution under the current legislation is complex and costly so a number of local authorities have taken out private acts of Parliament to allow them to control pedlars street trading activities locally.

Dr Iddon said,

I am very keen to push the issue of the pedlar nuisance with the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform as I am very concerned that the current piecemeal approach to regulation will simply move pedlars from one area to another, whilst costing individual local authorities considerable amounts of money.

My Bill allows a local authority the power to introduce local regulations but only if they choose to do so. My Bill has considerable support within the House and from local authorities across the House”

1. Dr. Iddon has tabled an EDM on the Pedlars (Street Trading Regulation) Bill, which can be viewed here. http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35508&SESSION=891

2. Dr Iddon asked a question at Questions to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on 3^rd April 2008