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Stolen Business; Pub Noise; Travel Agents

The small businesses being cloned by scammers who target Facebook users around the world.
How much noise is too much to put up with?
Travel agents on the brink of collapse.

We investigate how small businesses are being cloned by scammers who use adverts on Facebook to reach users around the world and rip them off. We hear from Robin Wright, the owner of a company that makes wire sculptures of fairies and posts photographs of them online. His photos have been stolen and used in fake adverts, supposedly selling the sculptures as garden decorations. Campaigners say more people will fall victim to similar scams unless something is done about it.

With lockdown easing, complaints about noise are rising again as normal life starts to resume. According to the latest figures from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, there were nearly 132,000 noise complaints between 2019 and 2020. Those figures represent just 36 percent of councils in England who responded to a data request, so the real picture is likely to be much worse. We hear from a listener in Lambeth in London who says he's been badly affected by noise coming from a pub beer garden next to his garden. We also hear what options are available when informal efforts to find a resolution fail.

We examine new figures on the number of travel agents on the brink of collapse because of the pandemic. Our reporter Samantha Fenwick is live in St Helens in Merseyside and has the very latest.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes

Available now

39 minutes

Chapters

  • Stolen business

    • Stolen business

      Small businesses are being cloned by scammers who are using adverts on Facebook

      Duration: 14:29

  • Covid test refusal

    • Covid test refusal

      There's still confusion about the kind of Covid tests you need to fly in and out of the UK

      Duration: 05:53

  • Cakes side hustle

    • Cakes side hustle

      Today we hear from a women who has set up a small cake business during lockdown

      Duration: 03:56

  • Pub noise

    • Pub noise

      We hear from a listener in London who has been affected by noise coming from a pub garden

      Duration: 06:43

  • Travel agents

    • Travel agents

      We examine new figures on the number of travel agents on the brink of collapse

      Duration: 07:41

Broadcast

  • Thu 17 Jun 2021 12:18

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