J.B. Priestley’s play, An Inspector Calls, has always been a favourite of mine, but yesterday we had a visit from a real inspector, in the shape of a gentleman who announced: “Good morning. I am a Trading Standards officer."

I shook his hand, welcomed him and invited him to sit down.

We are one of those old fashioned shops where we like to sit customers down while we demonstrate products – this time it was a TSO. 

I immediately noted that he sat well back in the chair, so I presumed from his relaxed position that he was not investigating a complaint.

Sure enough, it was a “routine” visit and he simply wanted to be sure that everything in the shop had a price ticket, and after spinning around a couple of times on his swivel chair, he acknowledged that everything item he could see was in order.

He inspected a few Roberts radios and was satisfied that every one came with a proper 13 amp moulded mains plug – Les Burrage will be pleased.

Then the metre rule that we use to sell lengths of cable received a close inspection.  While this was going on, my mind did stray to a customer I had yesterday, who wanted 30 metres of coaxial cable. 

I had got a little bit lost with my counting towards the end. and when I re-measured, he had got 33m.

Apparently it is the quality of the rule you measure against that matters – does it have an official stamp?

Then we had a general discussion about trade and had a little laugh about the fact that no customer has ever reported my shop to Trading Standards.

Then, just as I thought our inspection was over, he noticed that the shop lacked a prominently displayed,  “Particulars of Ownership” notice, as required under the Business Names Act of 1985.

The TSO smiled and told me to comply as soon as possible. He kindly agreed to ignore my flagrant, 13 year abuse of the law!

I always welcome “official” visits, as I always learn something.

Now would be a good time to check that your shop is complying with the Business Names Act.