Consumer rights - incorrect advertising

I remember hearing on radio 2 (not martin though) someone explaining this to me, and I clearly remember that that the advertising of a product at a price or an offer does NOT have to be honoured by the seller.

I suspect this had to do with a specific type of transaction however I do remember that section clearly...

In legal terms, advertisements are classed as 'offers to treat' not a binding contract for sale, so there is a get-out for companies who can claim it was a mistake.

Sometimes they will do it as a gesture of goodwill though. Obviously not in this case...

Consumers have few 'rights' as such in this area - the remedies are largely action taken against the company concerned by the relevant authority (i.e. Trading Standards), but these do not give rise to any civil right to compensation etc., for the consumer unless a contract has been entered into under deception through misleading advertising.

A complaint to Trading Standards may point up misleading information being published which they can warn the trader about, but they would only pursue a prosecution under a CMAR (Control of Misleading Advertisements order) for persistent abuse. Where there is merely out of date information or a mistake, this would be regarded as acceptable, although clearly it's not good marketing for any company to permit information to expire and have no organised means of keeping published products right up to date.