A COMPANY selling 'dangerous phone chargers' and fake designer phone accessories faces fines of more than £5,000 after an investigation by Ealing Council.
Trading Standards officers visited MyFone Accessories, based at the Southall Enterprise Centre in Bridge Street in July last year. They seized more than 2,000 counterfeit mobile phone covers worth over £20,000.
They also confiscated more than 300 electrically unsafe and potentially dangerous mobile phone chargers.
An electrical expert tested the chargers and found they failed the required safety standard, making them dangerous to users.
Tarlochan Sachdeva, director of MyFone Accessories, appeared at Ealing Magistrates Court on Friday September 28.
Both Mr Sachdeva and the company admitted seven charges of selling counterfeit phone covers, as well as three charges of selling unsafe mobile phone chargers.
The company and Mr Sachdeva were each fined £1,575 for stocking the fake phone covers including Gucci, Blackberry, Chanel and Hello Kitty.
Both were fined a further £1,020 each for putting unsafe phone chargers on sale, along with a victim surcharge of £30.
The company was also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £6,462, bringing the total to be paid by the company and its director to £11,682.
Councillor Ranjit Dheer, Ealing leader for Safer Communities said after the hearing: “Unsafe chargers are prone to overheating and can cause fires and electric shocks.
“By selling these items they were putting their customers in danger and I hope the size of the fine serves as a warning to other businesses tempted to break the law in this way.”
