Issued By West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service

CHRISTMAS CLEAN UP

In a Christmas clamp down on illegal street traders West Yorkshire Trading Standards Officers targeted city centres throughout West Yorkshire this week. Officers were concerned about the amount of counterfeit goods with quality and safety flaws being sold in city centres during this busy shopping period.
In one particular operation targeting Leeds City Centre over 600 items, with an estimated street value of over £20,000, were seized. These included designer mobile phone covers and accessories, and clothing badged up as Henry Lloyd, LaCoste, Paul & Shark and Stone Island.
The message from West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service is to avoid counterfeit goods all together. The warning to traders of counterfeit goods is very clear with officers at Trading Standards refusing to tolerate the sale of illegal counterfeit items. Anyone thinking of starting or continuing with such activities should be aware that the maximum sentence for such crimes is 10 years imprisonment.
Also of concern was the illicit sale of unsafe toys and novelty items. The poor quality of some items on sale raised fears of potential hazards for consumers. Over 100 items likely to be popular with Christmas shoppers were seized due to safety concerns. Toy dogs were found to contain sharp edges. Fashion accessories such as flashing pendants and imitation dummies were found to be very fragile revealing small parts posing a choking threat. This follows a previous warning from Trading Standards about these fashion dummies causing burns to children due to leaking battery acid.
Councillor Graham Clarke, Chairman West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service said “At Christmas we are all on the look out for a bargain but buying cheap, counterfeit copies is not the answer. There will be a few disappointed people on Christmas Day when they find their presents are of poor quality and poor value for money.”

Martin Wood, Chief Officer West Yorkshire Trading Standards said:
“It is of great concern that unsafe products are on sale in West Yorkshire. As a Service we endeavor to protect the public and remove such goods from sale.”

For further information contact:
Paul Smith, Principal Officer, 0113 289 8219
Paul Cooper, Divisional Manager Fair Trading, 0113 289 8240
Carol Hallett, General Media Contact, 0113 383 6431

Notes to Editors:

Operations were carried out in Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield city centres.