Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks has warned people across South Wales to beware of buying “counterfeit” Christmas presents.
The Plaid AM issued the alert after it was revealed goods with street value of £680,000 had been seized in Cardiff alone over the last two-and-a-half years. But consumer watchdogs told Chris Franks the figures “belie the true level of unscrupulous activity”.
Trading standards officers in Cardiff said that they had picked up counterfeit vodka at 14 shops in “student land”, fake batteries and razor blades at wholesalers, 37,000 DVDs, thousands of posters for concerts at the CIA, flags at football matches and memory cards.
In Rhondda Cynon Taf trading standards officers have seized around 10,000 pirated DVDs, CDs and music games, many hundreds of fake designer clothes including Hugo Boss, Timberland and Prada.
Counterfeit Manchester United and Liverpool products were also discovered in RCT as well as tens of thousands of cigarettes, both illegal because they do not contain statutory health warnings and counterfeit.
Vale trading standards officers revealed that over £38,000 of counterfeit goods had been seized.
Details showed trading standards officers picked up 340 pirated DVDs, 64 fake designer handbags and 77 items of counterfeit clothing, from street dealers and shops. Other items included 10 designer watches, 14 PSP master disks and women’s accessories.
Chris Franks, a former South Glamorgan and Vale of Glamorgan councillor, said: “There is a huge temptation for cash strapped parents to look for bargains at Christmas.
“But if the cheap DVD you buy is poor quality or won’t play and the counterfeit clothing you buy falls apart after a couple of washes then ultimately you will be hugely disappointed. If it looks too good to be true it probably is.
“Plaid Cymru would like to see trading standards departments continuing their excellent work to bring those responsible for selling counterfeit gear to book. People also need to remember that much of this trade is run by organised crime, so it’s much more behind buying a cheap DVD.”
