Manchester wholesaler fined £3,000 for selling dangerous toys
The director of Wholesale Pound Line Plus has also been given a suspended prison sentence
A company selling dangerous and unsafe toys has been prosecuted in court.
On 5 November 2019, Manchester Trading Standards visited Manchester Wholesale Pound Line Plus Limited, Derby Street. Where light up balloon toys were seized, and samples of the products were sent to a laboratory for testing.
The results which came back found that the toys were unsafe. In particular, the light string on the products had the potential to tangle and therefore, posed a potential strangulation hazard to a child under 36 months. Moreover, the toys seized had battery compartments that could be opened without the use of a tool- making them unsafe for children as exposure to the chemicals inside the batteries can cause brain and kidney damage.
At a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court held on February 22, 2022, the director of the company Mr Changbo Zheng, was prosecuted by Manchester Trading Standards under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011. Mr Zheng was also previously prosecuted by Manchester Trading Standards in 2017 for similar offences.
The company has been charged £3,200 for their offences. The toys were seized, are in possession of the Council and will be destroyed.
Mr Zheng was fined £1,628, ordered to pay costs of £1,500 and a victim surcharge of £128. He was also sentenced to 20 weeks custody for each offence, to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months.
Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, Executive Member of Neighbourhoods, said:
“These toys being sold were not fit for children and fell well short of safety standards. When products like this are sold, the risk is passed onto the consumer and that’s when tragedies happen. Even though Mr Zheng had a previous conviction he continued to sell unsafe toys and risk the safety of children receiving these toys- this it totally unacceptable”
“Results like this are down to the hard work of our Trading Standards officers and our legal team and I’m grateful for their efforts in securing this prosecution.”