Weights and measures

We can provide advice, testing and verification services for your weighing and measuring equipment.

If you weigh or measure goods, your equipment must be both suitable and accurate. This equipment must also be verified and stamped to say that it is suitable to be 'used for trade'.

North Yorkshire trading standards can assess the accuracy of, and verify for trade use, a variety of equipment and systems, including:

petrol and diesel pumps
public house and bar equipment
factory scales up to 250kg
shop scales
packing and filling plants and small packing systems
length and volume measures

The cost of using inaccurate equipment

Inaccurate weighing and measuring equipment can cost businesses significant amounts every year. We can help you if:

you have recently bought new weighing or measuring equipment and require it to be checked for accuracy
your suppliers want evidence that your measuring systems are suitable and accurate
you have concerns that the equipment you are using may be inaccurate
your equipment has not been tested in some time and you would like to be sure that it's correct
you operate a packing line and would like to know if your systems are suitable

We can help ensure that you're not losing out due to inaccurate equipment with our verification and testing services.

We offer the following services:

Verification and stamping

If you have new equipment, or equipment which has recently undergone a significant repair, then it may need to be re-verified in order to be passed as fit for use for trade. Our trading standards officers can provide this service at competitive rates, to help ensure your trade equipment is accurate and compliant.

Advice on packaging systems

We can offer advice and testing to help ensure you get the best out of your packing systems, however large or small, to give you the assurance that you are using equipment which is both suitable for the job and accurate.

Certificates of accuracy

For existing equipment, we can check the accuracy of a range of weighing and measuring equipment and provide you with a certificate confirming that it has been tested and found to be within legal tolerances.

Weighbridge operator certificates

Anyone who charges a fee for carrying out public weighing's (usually on a weighbridge) must hold a certificate showing they can carry out their duties competently and honestly. A certificate can be issued free of charge by a trading standards officer following a short test.

The person tested will have to show that they can:

operate the equipment satisfactorily
complete any paperwork needed to a satisfactory standard
understand basic terms associated with the equipment
understand potential frauds which they might unknowingly assist
understand what might affect the accuracy of the equipment
perform simple arithmetic (with the aid of a calculator)

Information about public weighbridges in North Yorkshire can be found here.