Shotton ‘rogue trader’ fined thousands after being caught selling fake super hero costumes

A Shotton based ‘rogue trader’ has been slapped with a fine of nearly £11,000 after he was caught selling counterfeit super hero costumes.

Flintshire County Council Trading Standards took Ashley Colin Turner of Chester Road, Huntington, Chester to court where he pleaded guilty to 7 charges of supplying and possessing counterfeit goods under the Trade Marks Act 1994.

Early last year Flintshire County Council Trading Standards Service were contacted by representatives of Rubies Masquerade – suppliers of super hero costumes to say that they had found a supplier of counterfeit super hero costumes on Ebay.

A test purchase was made and it confirmed to be counterfeit by a representative of Warner Brothers.

Checks were made and the supplier was Cestrian Sports trading from Rowleys Drive in Shotton.

In September last year a search was carried out at Mr Turner’s home address and the address in Shotton.

Two hundred fifty items were seized of which two hundred and fifty were counterfeit with a street value of £7,236.22.

The court accepted that Mr Turner was a person of previous good character who had set up a successful business and had failed to understand the significance of registered trademarks.

Mr Turner was fined £1,125 and ordered to pay investigation costs of £2,211 and compensation of £7,236.22 to Rubies, he was also ordered to pay a surcharge of £200 making a total of £10,772.22.

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Protection, Councillor Chris Bithell, said:

“This is a very good result after a thorough investigation by Flintshire’s Trading Standards Service and a good example of the kind of results that can be achieved by good partnership working.

The fine and compensation reflects that these crimes are not the victimless crimes as many perceive.

This is theft of trade marks that companies spend large amounts of money to develop and it also has an adverse effect on those companies that sell the genuine products.”

Mike O’Connell, Global Head of Anti-Piracy at Rubie’s Masquerade Co. (UK) Ltd, said:

“This is another fantastic result for the team at Rubie’s in our fight against counterfeit products and those who sell them.

We would like to express our thanks to all of the officers at Flintshire Trading Standards for their support and assistance from the outset of this operation.

Successful prosecutions such as this, demonstrate how rogue traders are being combatted as a result of close collaboration between Rubie’s and law enforcement.

Together we are fighting back against the persistent threat of counterfeit costumes and toys.

Our global team works extensively on detecting and removing counterfeit products, across all trading platforms and in store.”

If anyone suspects they purchased counterfeit goods or anyone is selling them they should report it to Trading Standards on 03454 040506.

[Imagine