TRADING standards chiefs in Blackburn and Darwen have been rushed off their feet with complaints - thanks to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

An article which appeared in Monday's paper about how busy the service has been in the last six months prompted a flood of fresh complaints about shoddy goods and services.

A flood of new complaints was received at the offices of the service, which became independent of Lancashire County Council when Blackburn with Darwen Council was formed in April 1998.

Trading standards chief Chris Allen said the first six months of 1999 had been very busy, for the service, which became independent of Lancashire County Council when Blackburn with Darwen Council was formed in 1999.

An office has had to be opened in Darwen and extra staff taken on to cope with the demand.

He added today: "When that article appeared we could never have guessed what the response would be like.

"The phones have been absolutely buzzing, we've never known anything like it. I suppose it shows the power of the media, and there we were thinking we'd had a busy six months.

"In one day we had everything from people complaining about their holidays to faulty goods."

The trading standards department can be contacted on 01254 585904.

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