Almost 2m unsafe items seized at UK borders in 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/mar/06/unsafe-items-seized-at-uk-borders

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Children’s scooters, tooth whitening kits and LED lights were among almost two million unsafe products intercepted at border entry points last year.

We are urging consumers to be on their guard when shopping online

Among the 1.9m items held by National Trading Standards were 397 home tooth whitening kits that contained 61 times the permitted level of hydrogen peroxide and almost 1,000 chainsaws from China that had crucial faults such as a kill switch that did not immediately stop the motor.

Between July and November, 63% of LED lightbulbs tested across various UK border points were found to be unsafe or non-compliant.

Teams in Suffolk found 20 unsafe children’s scooters, while 9,809 carcinogenic skin lightening creams have been intercepted at Tilbury and Gateway ports since April 2013.

More than 670,000 cosmetic products including shampoo, skin whitening cream, soap, skin lightening oil, henna products, body lotion and face cream were identified as unsafe or non-compliant at UK border points between April and December.

NTS urged consumers to take extra care when shopping online, saying the items found – equating to more than 6,500 a day – were thought to be the “tip of the iceberg”.

During the nine-month period to December analysed by NTS, nearly two in five interventions by its safety at ports and borders teams identified products as unsafe or non-compliant, meaning they posed a risk to the health or safety of consumers.

It estimated that removing the items from the supply chain saved the UK economy more than £57m in potential costs of injuries, fatalities or fires.

NTS has produced a checklist to help people shop safely online, with tips such as checking the reviews of the product and noting if there is a way of contacting the seller offline.

NTS chairman Lord Toby Harris said: “In this country, it is easy to take for granted that everything we buy will be safe. But on the internet you are exposed to rogue traders all over the world who are waiting to lure you in with tempting deals for products that are frankly dangerous.

“Protecting consumers from harm is our top priority and our safety at ports and borders teams are uncovering thousands of unsafe items at check points every day.

“We are proud of our teams’ work but sadly we believe these figures just represent the tip of the iceberg.

“We are urging consumers to be on their guard when shopping online, doing some research before they buy and being wary of deals that look good to be true.

“And to help us do our job, we are asking people to report any sellers, websites or products they’ve received that they suspect of being unsafe to the Citizen’s Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06.”

The consumer affairs minister, Jo Swinson said: “The figures revealed today are staggering and illustrate the importance of the work carried out by trading standards.

“We have increased funding for Trading Standards to specifically target ports and borders, and consumers can play an active part in making sure they report any problem items to their local team.”

The Trading Standards Institute chief executive, Leon Livermore, said: “These seizures demonstrate how many potentially harmful items enter the UK every year. Not only do these products hurt consumers, they negatively impact the UK economy and undermine legitimate businesses.

“Trading standards officers strive to protect these goods from reaching consumers at ports, online and on the high street. Unfortunately, trading standards budgets have been cut by an average of more than 40% over the lifetime of this parliament.

“It’s imperative for the health and safety of UK consumers that funding for trading standards remains a top priority following this year’s election.”