Two Shops Have Alcohol Licenses Revoked.
Two shops in Fletton and Woodston have had their licences revoked
by Peterborough City Council's Licensing Act 2003 Sub Committee
following a joint operation between the city council, police and HM
Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Peterborough City Council's trading standards
requested a review of the licenses for London Road Late Stores, 64a
London Road, Peterborough, and Woodston Mini Market (known as Best
One Express), 1a Orton Avenue, Woodston, Peterborough, following a
two-day operation in April 2011 led by HMRC.
Non-UK duty paid products and counterfeit
vodka were seized totalling £3,098 from London Road Late Stores and
£336 from Woodston Mini Market in January 2011 and £443 in
April.
At the Licensing Act 2003 Sub Committee
hearing at Peterborough Town Hall on Friday 19 August 2011,
premises licence holder and designated premises supervisor for both
premises Tasneem Kauser was represented by Khalid Mahmood, the
owner of the businesses.
The sub committee heard evidence from all
parties and the decision was made to revoke both licences. The
licence holder has 21 days to appeal the decision at Peterborough
Magistrates' Court.
Councillor Peter Hiller, cabinet member for
Housing, Neighbourhoods and Planning, said: "This case will send
out a clear message to other licensed premises and must surely
deter them from taking part in similar criminal activities.
"Bargain-priced tobacco and alcohol products
can often seem very attractive to consumers; however the truth is
these goods have been either smuggled into this country or
illegally manufactured by amateurs. As such these sales are
unlicensed and unregulated, and the shop-keeper is doing no one any
favours with their illegal, potentially dangerous profiteering
practices. This authority recognises the seriousness of these
offences and will take appropriate action swiftly.”
Karen Woods, Regulatory Officer in
Peterborough City Council's Trading Standards team, said: "People
who buy counterfeit cigarettes or alcohol have no idea what is
contained in them. Some of the illegally made vodka has been found
to contain high levels of methanol, which is used to make
anti-freeze and some fuels. Drinking it can be incredibly
dangerous, and could cause dizziness, breathing difficulties and
even blindness.
“Production often takes place in unhygienic conditions and there
is evidence that the counterfeiting of alcohol in the UK is being
taken over by organised gangs, setting up factories and making
alcohol on an industrial scale, which then gets shipped out to
off-licences, pubs and clubs. If you suspect you have bought or
consumed counterfeit alcohol, contact trading standards.”
Father and Son Sentenced for Selling Counterfeit DVDs,
Music and Games.
James Sinclair (60) of Whittlesey Road, Stanground, and his son
Robert Sinclair (33), of Ponsonby Drive, Woodston, appeared before
Peterborough Crown Court on Friday 5 August 2011 for sentencing. At
an earlier hearing at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on 21 June
2011, Robert pleaded guilty to 20 offences under the Trade Marks
Act and Copyright Designs and Patents Act and James pleaded guilty
to the same 20 offences plus a further ten under the Video
Recordings Act.
Both men were sentenced to a 12-month custodial sentence,
suspended for two years, and a two year supervision order. James
Sinclair was also sentenced to a further four months custodial
sentence, suspended for two years, for selling adult films, to run
concurrently. The judge also granted the city council permission to
destroy the seized items.
Peterborough City Council's trading standards team received a
complaint from the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) in
December 2010 about a sophisticated website selling well known
music, films, television programmes and computer games. The BPI had
previously carried out test purchases.
The home addresses of both men were searched and seized were
6,427 films or TV programmes, more than 1,300 adult films, more
than 2,000 computer games, 10,801 music discs and around 300 blank
music discs. Computers at the addresses were also seized which
confirmed that there was a website, www.popcornnight.com, selling
counterfeit discs. 
The Sinclairs were also found to have been offering a service
known as chipping or modding which involves incorporating a chip
into a games console which will then permit the playing of
counterfeit video games. In addition they sold what they classed as
‘adult titles’, of a type which were either R18 certificates and
should only be sold in a licensed sex shop or were
unclassified.
The Sinclairs had taken extensive steps to conceal their
identities. There were no names and addresses associated with the
website, the domain registration was with a company outside the UK
to make tracing the website owners difficult, and false details
were used on the PayPal account. Only the bank accounts linked to
the PayPal account were genuine and it was through this method that
the Sinclairs were finally traced.
Transactions through PayPal show an estimated £70,000 to £80,000
was made through the website since 2006, equating to between
£12,000 and £15,000 per year.
Councillor Peter Hiller, Cabinet Member for Housing,
Neighbourhoods and Planning, said: "We are satisfied with the
result of today's hearing, which should serve as a warning to
others who think it is acceptable to sell counterfeit items. The
Sinclairs sold vast quantities of video games, films, TV programmes
and music with no regard to the rights of the creative industries,
or the knock-on effect in terms of revenue lost to the retailers,
or members of the public who believed they were buying a genuine
item.
"In terms of the volume of discs seized, this case is one of the
largest our trading standards team has ever dealt with involving a
domestic property. The website was not only sophisticated and
created a professional appearance but according to the investigator
from the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI), was one of the
biggest they had encountered in the UK."
Fine For Selling Illegal Skin Whitening Cream.
Saviour Novienyeku, trading as African Queen on the City Market was
fined £1000 plus £200 costs at Peterborough Magistrates Court
for selling banned skin whitening cream.
Car Clocker Fined. Peterborough Magistrates
Court have fined the owners of Ace Cars, Fengate, Peterborough for
offering to sell a Lexus car with over 100,000 miles taken off the
milometer. The Rana Corporation Ltd and its Director Sanjeev Rana
of Peregrine Close, Peterborough were both fined £1000 for offences
under the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations
2008.
Truckfest Counterfeiters Sent to Prison. Simon
Hempsell and his father Jon Hempsell, both from Staffordshire, were
each sentenced to two months in prison at Peterborough Crown Court
on 23 June. In addition their company, Workwear UK ltd was fined
£5000 and both men ordered to each pay £1500 in costs. An order of
£18000 was also made under the Proceeds of Crime Act. If this money
is not paid then both men will return to prison.
'Car Clockers' Sentenced. On 1 April , at
Huntingdon Crown Court, Rahil Ahmed, of Lutton Grove,
Peterborough, was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended
for two years plus 200 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £1795
costs for his part in the supply of cars with false mileage
readings. His nephews Abbas Ahmed and Bilal Ahmed, both of
Atherstone Avenue, Peterborough, were each sentenced to 200 hours
unpaid work for their part in the scam.
Do not be taken in by rogue traders. The
digital change over is getting really close and the analogue
channels will soon be switched off. Therefore if you have a
TV, which only receives then standard five channels you will need
to speak to someone to continue watching TV.
The document below appears in Adobe® Acrobat® (PDF) format. In order to view it you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed. (Those with visual impairments may wish to investigate Access Adobe, which provides tools and information to help make PDF files more accessible). |  |
Digital Changeover
(25KB, 2 pages)
Clothing company plead guilty to selling counterfeit
clothing at Truckfest. Workwear UK Ltd and Directors Simon
and Jon Hempsell pleaded guilty to two offences each under the
Trade Marks Act 1994 in relation to over £18000 worth of
counterfeit Scania clothing and accessories they were selling at
Truckfest, Peterborough Showground in May 2010. The matter has been
referred to Peterborough Crown Court for sentencing.
Three Peterborough men have pleaded guilty at
Peterborough Crown Court to selling 'clocked' cars. On 25
February brothers Abbas and Bilal Ahmed and their uncle Rahil Ahmed
pleaded guilty to a number of offences under the Consumer
Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 relating to
advertising and selling cars which had the mileage reduced, in one
case the mileage was reduced by over 145000 miles. The matter was
adjourned until 1 April 2011 for sentencing.
Officers from trading standards save Orton couple
£3000. Trading standards officers, working with the
police, attended a rogue trader incident in the Orton Waterville
area, where gang of workmen were attempting to charge a couple
£3000 for shoddy driveway re-surfacing which the couple did not
want and had not asked for the work to be carried out.
In the run up to Bonfire
night, trading standards carried out a test purchase exercise for
fireworks. Working with underage volunteers, eleven
premises were visited with two premises selling fireworks to the
volunteers who were under eighteen. Enforcement action is now being
considered against the sellers.
Trading Standards Officers save Fengate man
£15000. Officers from trading standards, working with the
Police and other Council staff attended a rogue trader incident in
the Fengate area, where a vulnerable resident was being targeted by
bogus damp proofers who attempted to charge over £16000 for work
which did not need doing.
Trading Standards departments across the East of
England, including Peterborough Trading Standards, are cracking
down on illegal sales of cigarettes from vending
machines.
A regional undercover operation revealed some alarming results,
with the owners of many cigarette vending machines located at pubs,
hotels and other venues breaking the law.
Underage volunteers were asked to try and buy cigarettes from
104 vending machines across the region, and 81 times they were
successful. Of the remaining machines, others were either empty,
broken or switched off. Only on a handful of occasions was the
correct procedure carried out of challenging the volunteer about
their age. In Peterborough five visits were made, with successful
purchases being made in three of those attempts. Enforcement action
is now being considered, on a regional level against the vending
machine suppliers.
Adrian Belson (56), of Oundle Road,
Peterborough, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and
his firm fined £20,000 by Peterborough Crown Court yesterday (26
August). An investigation by Peterborough trading
standards revealed Belson, trading as Gripp Belgique Ltd had a
contract worth almost £600,000 to supply oil drilling parts to a
company based in Dubai. But rather than buying the equipment from
Texas-based firm National Oilwell Varco, recognised as one of the
world’s leaders in the field, Belson bought cheap Chinese
imitations and packaged them in material covered with the American
company’s logos.
Belson pleaded guilty to four charges regarding the unauthorised
use of the National Oilwell Varco trademark.
He also pleaded guilty on behalf of his company to one charge
regarding the unauthorised use of the trademark.
Thomas Brown, prosecuting, said: “In interview he admitted he had
done it and that by buying the parts from China he would have made
$300,000 profit. Had he used genuine parts the profit would have
been much smaller.
Following the case, Councillor Peter Hiller said: “This
investigation has halted a unique and sophisticated counterfeiting
enterprise worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“I hope this sends out a clear warning message to anyone else
involved in counterfeit activities that it will not be tolerated in
Peterborough.
“We must also not forget the potential consequences of the supply
of counterfeit goods. Had these parts been sold and put into a
working environment then we simply could not guarantee their
quality, reliability or safety as there are differences between
these parts and genuine ones.”
In July 2010, Hampton Trading Ltd trading as Hampton
Conservatories was fined £10000 and ordered to pay £1700 costs
after pleading guilty to falsely using trade association logos and
other official marks on its literature.
Following a
complaint from a member of the public an investigation by
Peterborough Trading Standards revealed that the company was
persistently making unauthorised, false and misleading use of trade
association logos and claims of approval from various organisations
and Government departments.
Hampton Trading pleaded guilty to two offences under the Trade
Marks Act 1994 and three offences under the Consumer Protection
from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. It was fined £2,000 for
each offence and ordered to pay £1,700 in costs.