TRADE and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers has promised Pendle MP Gordon Prentice that his consumer protection crackdown will stop the rip-off one-day sales that have plagued his constituency.

The Labour back-bencher tackled the Cabinet minister after he announced his moves to put the consumer 'centre stage.'

He was concerned about the number of one-day sales advertised in the area, including one by a Torquay-based firm in Nelson's Marsden Community Centre in February, 1997, which was prevented by the MP and four local Labour councillors.

Dozens of people turned up to the sale tempted by the offers of TVs and electrical goods at knockdown prices, which are in short supply at such events.

He compared the event organised by Table Top Sales to another one at the Great Marsden Hotel in October, 1995, organised by Table Top Marketing of Cheltenham.

In 1996 Mr Prentice said in the Commons that such sales ripped people off by selling "shoddy goods for inflated prices."

Mr Prentice told Mr Byers: "Many people in my constituency are fed up to the back teeth with being ripped off by one-day sales people and will be encouraged that the Government is at last tackling the problem.

"Will there be an obligation on one-day sales people to give prior notification to Trading Standards Officers that they will be in an area? "It is all very well talking about criminal sanctions, but, by their very nature, those people are literally here today and gone tomorrow. The question of prior notification is central."

Mr Byers, referring to proposed new powers to cut through red tape and allow local authority officials to seek injunctions against road traders within hours, said: "The people to whom you referred are well known to trading standards officers, but their frustration at the moment is that they have no effective powers to deal with them.

"Our measures, which will require primary legislation, will be able to tackle at source the type of activity to which you refer."

Afterwards Mr Prentice said: "We need some of these one-day sales people like we need a dose anthrax. They rip people off mercilessly, preying on the unsuspecting and those out for a bargain.

"I am hugely encouraged that tough action is now going to be taken. It's good news."

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