Standards Board
The Furniture Ombudsman Standards Board acts in an advisory capacity to assist The Furniture Ombudsman in its role and effectiveness.
A cross section of TFO's adjudication reports are reviewed periodically by the Standards Board whose role is to ensure our decisions are both fair and reasonable.
Board Members:
Guy Pratt (Chair)
Guy Pratt is the Assistant Director of Community Protection at Hertfordshire County Council, and the Chair of the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers (ACTSO). He previously held the role of Head of Trading Standards for Hertfordshire County Council and has over 25 years experience in the field of consumer protection. Guy also sits on the Office of Fair Trading's National Advisory Group for Consumer Direct, the national consumer helpline.
Simon Burge (Vice Chair)
Simon has been engaged in the furniture industry for over 35 years. Over this time he gained a wealth of retail experience in store and in customer service. More recently Simon has been involved in buying & Operations at a senior level for House of Fraser.
Jim Potts
Jim Potts MTSI, DCA, MBA – Is the former Head of Trading Standards with Lancashire County Council. A Fellow of The Trading Standards Institute, Jim has a wealth of experience in dealing with consumer laws and complaints regarding furniture.
Charlotte Ali
Charlotte is a solicitor specialising in standards and compliance within a financial charity. She previously headed up the Legal Services department of a large consumer charity where she dealt with a wide variety of consumer cases and complaints as well as campaigning on consumer issues.
Isabel Barrell
Isabel Barrell is the managing director of family owned and run Wesley-Barrell Ltd. The company was one of the founding members of The Furniture Ombudsman. Isabel has 25 years experience in business and 18 years in upholstery, manufacturing retail and has sat on the Standards Board for over 10 years.
Ellen Morgan
Ellen spent ten years as a Fair Trading Officer in Trading Standards departments in South Wales and Berkshire before joining the retail sector. Her current role as Legal Compliance Manager for B&Q carries a broad responsibility from consumer law to health and safety. Ellen is also Founder Secretary of the Trading Standards Institute's Business Members Group.
Gordon McLaren
Gordon has spent the last 28 years working in the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom industry. He has run his own business selling and installing bedrooms and kitchens and headed up Sales and Installations at B&Q for 4 years. Over the last 8 years Gordon has lead Homebase's Showroom business introducing an Installation service and a customer centric service proposition.
Click here to view the bye-laws governing The Furniture Ombudsman Standards Board.
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