It was a victorious week for the Trading Standards Team at Barking and Dagenham Council, last week, as they brought home three industry awards.

At the annual London Trading Standards Awards in the City of London, Barking and Dagenham Trading Standards Officer, Robert Andrews won the Safeguarding Officer of the Year award.

Rob was recognised for always going the extra mile for residents and will often offer ongoing care and guidance to victims to ensure they are supported and feel confident in resuming their independent lives.

Alongside this great award Nazir Ali, Service Manager for Planning Enforcement, Trading Standards and Financial Investigations, and the CTSI London Branch Race and Equalities Working Group won the London Trading Standards Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award.

And later that week, Nazir and the same group won the CTSI Hero Awards for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “Nazir and Rob both work incredibly hard to protect our residents and always do that little extra, so I’m proud to have them both work for us.

“I want to say a massive congratulations to them both as the awards are thoroughly deserved.”

The Trading Standards team will continue to work hard to protect residents with a particular focus on young people and making sure that local businesses aren’t selling vapes, knives, tobacco and cigarettes to them.

If residents would like to report anything to Trading Standards, they can do so by emailing tradingstandards@lbbd.gov.uk.