£250m siphoned off in short-手段 scams

by SEAN POULTER, Daily Mail

A short 対策 引き裂く-off on everything from a pint of beer to a litre of 石油 and a bunch of 気が狂って is costing Britons hundreds of millions of 続けざまに猛撃するs a year.

Shoppers are not getting what they 支払う／賃金 for, says the 国家の Audit Office, because as many as one in five 重さを計るing machines and 石油 pumps is 欠陥のある or rigged.

A fifth of pre-packed goods also do not 含む／封じ込める the 量 of fruit and vegetables, cooked meats or other 製品s 明言する／公表するd on the label, によれば the NAO's 最新の 報告（する）／憶測.

Drinks 引き裂く-off

But one of the biggest 引き裂く-offs identified by the 監視者 伴う／関わるs short 対策 of beer and cider.

The scam is 価値（がある） £130 million a year at 卸売物価s, while the 小売 人物／姿／数字 may be closer to £250 million.

運転者s are also 存在 systematically cheated. The 容積／容量 of 石油 changes によれば its 気温, which means the 量 paid by garages or drivers to the oil companies may not 正確に match the 量 they are getting.

In many 事例／患者s, the short 手段 is a 引き裂く-off rather than a simple technical error, the 報告（する）／憶測 （人命などを）奪う，主張するs.

It gives the example of a computer copy-paper 供給者 in South むちの跡s who failed to 含む the number of sheets 宣言するd on boxes.

A coal merchant in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, used a hollowed-out 25kg 負わせる which meant coal 捕らえる、獲得するs 含む／封じ込めるd only 23.5kg.

A 顧客 from Essex ordered three 立方（体）の metres of topsoil from a 地元の garden centre. But 貿易（する）ing 基準s officers discovered that only 1.92 立方（体）の metres had been 配達するd, a 不足（高） of 36 per cent.

Not enough checks

The NAO 報告（する）／憶測 says: "Every week around £1 billion 価値（がある） of 小売 goods is sold in the 部隊d Kingdom on the basis of the 測定 of their 量.

"消費者s need to be 確信して they receive the 量 of goods they have paid for. And busines ses need to be 確信して that they are 貿易（する）ing in a fair market place."

施行 of the 支配するs is 不十分な-because the 職業 is 大部分は left to 地元の 会議s.

Chris Howell, 負わせるs and 対策 専門家 for the 貿易（する）ing 基準s 学校／設ける, said: "The level of 査察s on 負わせるs and 対策 machines is not what it should be. That is all 負かす／撃墜する to 資源s for 地元の 当局. They don't have the 動員可能数 and money to do the 職業.

"I don't want to create an impression that every butcher is giving short 負わせる, but where there are no checks, people take advantage.

"Where someone fills up a car with 40 litres of 石油, how are they to know that is what is going into the 戦車／タンク? Some garages will take advantage of that."

NAO 長，指導者 Sir John Bourn said the Department of 貿易（する） and 産業 should modernise 関連した 法律制定 as much of it is out of date or 十分な of anomalies.

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