Advice on how to report an incident or register a concern for customers or consumers
Customers, consumers and the general public are the ‘eyes and ears’ of regulators in this modern, digitally connected world.
This BBfA site is provided to help all businesses recognise that a compliant business is a sign of a good business. Modern regulation is working hard to reduce bureaucracy and the burden of compliance for business, but not at the cost of risk or other harm to their customers and consumers.
If you, as a consumer or customer, feel that the behaviour, conditions or actions of a business do not meet required standards, then you can use this site to find the appropriate regulatory body and contact them to report your concerns. We would ask you to be patient if you report an issue as not all bodies are equipped to deliver a rapid response, but nevertheless we are keen to hear from you if you feel you have a valid issue.
Reporting a business creating a public nuisance
Public nuisance arises when consumers want to complain about businesses creating excessive noise, bright artificial light, vermin, litter, dust, smoke or odour. If you, as a customer, local citizen or another local business have concerns that a business is genuinely creating public nuisance, then you should in the first instance share your concern with the business who may not be aware of the regulatory and environmental commitments, or even aware of the problem your are experiencing. In the vast majority of cases that business will fix the problem. If they don’t then read on…
But before you submit a concern we would ask that you read the checklist below, BEFORE contacting the relevant body:
- If your issue is based on hearsay or you have no personal experience or evidence of your concern …
- If your issue relates to a non regulated incident (like a waiter being rude to you in a restaurant) …
- If your issue is related to incidents that occurred some time ago …
- We ask you to take this up directly with the business concerned
However:
- If your issue has, or continues to put you or other members of the public at risk
- If a business is clearly contravening regulatory guidelines (you can check this by browsing the relevant regulatory pages or accessing support documents available from this site)
- If your working environment is unsafe for you or other members of the public
- We ask you to contact the relevant regulatory body listed in this site. Mostly this will be your local authority, however some regulations are managed nationally. Please review the relevant pages to identify the right contacts
One final request. Please act responsibly. In a digital world it is all too easy to create nuisance claims that have little foundation and can directly harm business reputations. Do take care as anonymous reports will NOT be acted upon, and untrue claims that damage the reputation of a business can result in action against people reporting.