We own a small Beauty Salon in a small town and a new salon has recently opened. I dont have an issue with this as it introduces competition and has brought some extra clients into the town.
However, they do copy everything we do, but worse still, when one of our customers enters our shop the owner of the other salon shouts across the road 'Come into our shop, we are better/half price/etc'.
Im not sure if this is legal or just not the done thing but I am looking for advise as to whether this is legal or not.
Incidentally, in the past year she has been warned about serving alcohol to customers without a licence, been could under the Music licence act and for no TV licence.
You may be able to claim unfair trading if you believe the other salon is impairing the choice of the average customer by their actions as some legislation which covers this was introduced in May 2008 under the unfair trading regulations. I suggest you first contact your local Trading Standards Service or the Office of Fair Trading to see if they agree it is unfair trading.