A NELSON shop owner kept dangerous fake toys, stocked counterfeit and unclassified DVDs and tried to hide false discs from view, a court was told.
Pennine magistrates heard how the unsafe toys, which had overheating battery compartments, were discovered in a raid by trading standards officers. Tanvir Ahmed, then trading as AK Videos in Leeds Road, had earlier sold unclassified DVDs to an officer.
The discs had no age classification, might have had unsuitable content and, if sold to the public, could have fallen into the hands of children.
Ahmed, who has previously been convicted under the Video Recordings and Trade Marks Acts, has now closed the store and has a clothes shop in the Preston area.
The defendant (33), of Beaufort Street, Nelson, had earlier admitted four counts of supplying an unclassified video recording in October, 2011 and four allegations of possessing goods with a false trademark for sale or hire, three of them relating to DVDs and one count involving nine BEN 10 toys. He asked for five offences to be considered. Ahmed was given a four-month curfew between 10pm and 7am, seven days a week. The Bench ordered him to pay £3,071.20 costs.
Mr Nicholas McNamara, prosecuting for Lancashire Trading Standards, said, last October 17th, responding to intelligence, officers went to AK Videos. One of them was able to buy four unclassified DVDs for £5, which were in flimsy PVC covers and bore abbreviated details in hand writing.
Just over a week later, officers returned to the premises to carry out a full inspection. They seized 196 counterfeit DVDs and nine BEN 10 toys.
The prosecutor continued: “Many of the DVDs were found hidden in a built-in shelving unit under the counter. This was an attempt to conceal these discs from sight.” Mr McNamara said the BEN 10 toys were on open display on the shelves.
The prosecutor said, last December, officers executed an entry warrant at the defendant’s home, which led to the seizure of similar toys.
Mr McNamara continued: “Some of these toys were later found to be unsafe, due to overheating battery compartments. There is no suggestion he would have been aware the toys were dangerous. When he was interviewed, he was only able to provide very sketchy details about where he bought them. In fact, so sketchy were the details, Trading Standards Services have been unable to trace his supplier at all.”
Mr David Norman, for Ahmed, said he did not know the toys were dangerous. He did not accept DVDs were deliberately concealed. The compartment was there from the previous shop owner.
The solicitor added the defendant had already made the decision to close the shop when he was sentenced last September. Mr Norman continued: “He now has a clothes shop in the Preston area. He’s hard working and trying to make a go of that. He works long hours.”