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Stop the messers, no £100 deposit, make it £500.

Re your point Frank Cannon about Norfolk Trading Standards, we received a call from a different TS on Friday asking us for more details about our legal update on the Office of Product Safety & Standards advice about test drives. So yes, it seems not all TS regions are yet up to date with the correct legal interpretation (which is very often different to what any shorthand online Gov.uk guidance might suggest). The answer BHM to your point re deposited purchases is that the Covid regs mean no business can be done from the premises (as they are closed). Business can only be done in response to remote orders. A remote order = a distance sale. After Lockdown, when dealers are allowed to trade from their premises again, taking a £100 reservation fee in response to which the customer comes along and only commits to purchase after having seen the vehicle, will not be a distance sale. No 14 day return option in those circumstances. The 72 hours anomaly has already been made by BHM and that is really a science question not a legal one. However, dealers will need to do the same with a round the block test drive as they would when a car is returned in the extended 14 day test drive period. This all needs to be covered in the dealer’s Covid Risk Assessment. Re employees refusing to do certain work, any such case will turn on its facts but if a fully considered Risk Assessment has deemed a task safe and the employer has provided sufficient PPE, then it should not be a problem. However, we always recommended taking tailored legal advice before making any such employee type decisions.

I think we should be grateful to Law Jaw for providing us with clear and definitive information rubber stamped by the Office of Product Safety and Standards with regard to Click and Collect.This is a big help for those running pitches.Yesterday I was at my old pitch where people are constantly turning up unannounced wanting to view stock and the time taken explaining the rules to them is very frustrating.Some clear signage referring to The Office of Product Safety and the £100 deposit rule should deter the time wasters and also any random Trading Standards Officers.