Seizure of Fake Goods Heralds Summer of Action Against Counterfeiters
Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service has heralded a summer of action against the manufacturers and sellers of counterfeit goods with the seizure of over 1500 items of fake goods including handbags, sunglasses, and clothing.
Now Trading Standards Officers will begin a coordinated series of visits to markets and car boot sales across the county.
On Saturday 7th July Warwickshire Trading Standards were one of several agencies working with Warwickshire Police to stop vehicles on roads close to the M40 Warwick/Leamington Spa junctions.
The contents of four vehicles were seized: approximately 1300 items of clothing (tops, jeans, shorts, belts, baseball caps), 250 pairs of sunglasses, and 30 handbags.
The market value of the haul is estimated to be around £15,000 and if it were genuine £90,000. Trade marks included: Nike, Adidas, Prada, Gap, Moschino, Armani, Diesel, Versace, D&G, Bench, FCUK and Stone Island.
Mark Ryder, Head of Warwickshire Trading Standards said:
“The sale of counterfeit goods threatens genuine businesses and the livelihoods of those who work in those industries.
The recent discovery of fake tubes of Sensodyne toothpaste, with no active ingredient and contaminated with toxic levels of the chemical diethylene glycol, on sale at car boots in the UK, is also a reminder that counterfeit goods can also be of poor quality or unsafe thus putting consumers at risk.
Further we have evidence to suggest that profits from the sale of fake goods are sometimes used to fund other forms of crime such as the trade in illegal drugs.
We intend to work closely with market organisers across Warwickshire in a joint effort to rid the county of counterfeiters.”
The service has successfully prosecuted both traders and manufacturers in counterfeit goods, and those who make or sell counterfeit goods are warned that they could face the prospect of legal action.
For more information on counterfeit goods, visit our website: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fakes
To report the sale of counterfeit goods telephone Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.
Contaminated Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Mint 50ml toothpaste tubes: the fake toothpastes are in combined Arabic and English livery with a batch code ‘PROD 07 2005 / EXP 08 / 2008’. Genuine GlaxoSmithKline Sensodyne packs are in English livery only with no Arabic text.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) advise that if people have toothpaste from this batch they should stop using it, discard it and buy a replacement from an authorised stockist. At present there is no evidence of people having any adverse reactions to the fake batch of toothpaste.
Warwickshire Trading Standards has not found any contaminated batches of toothpaste, but officers will be looking for them as they visit markets and car boots.