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Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
Welcome to Fake Britain. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:07 | |
Police! | 0:00:09 | 0:00:10 | |
-Get down! Get down! -On the floor now! | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
Put your hands behind your back, now. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:24 | |
Here at the Fake Britain house, things might look familiar, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
but don't be taken in - because this is a house that's filled with fakes. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:33 | |
In this series I'll be revealing the counterfeits, | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
copies and cons that are flooding the market, fooling the public, | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
making money for the criminals and maybe even putting you in danger. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
We'll be investigating those fraudsters | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
who are cashing in by selling something that isn't real, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
and we'll be showing you how to avoid falling for a fake. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
Today on Fake Britain, we lift the lid on the fake cigarettes | 0:00:55 | 0:00:59 | |
that could burn down your house. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
My father said, "There's been a fire at home | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
"and your mum's dead." | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
And the nationwide crackdown on the fakers putting our lives in danger. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
We've got a huge supply here. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:11 | |
Who can you trust to fit your burglar alarm? | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
The fake certificates putting livelihoods at risk. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
I'd already been the victim of a burglary. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
I didn't want another criminal in my home. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
And we meet two pioneers of two very British folding bikes, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
both of whom are losing out to the fakers. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
All these products are fakes. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
Here on Fake Britain we've seen a lot of these. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
They look like real cigarettes, but they're fake and illegal. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
They're often made in filthy conditions, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
and anything from rat droppings to mould have been found in them. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
But there's a new danger with fake cigarettes, | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
and, as we're about to find out, just one of these could be deadly. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:59 | |
Cigarette fakers are blazing a trail across the country. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
Over 80% of UK-branded cigarettes seized by the HMRC are fake, | 0:02:04 | 0:02:09 | |
and last year over a billion illicit cigarettes were seized. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:14 | |
Fake Britain has investigated fake cigarettes before, | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
but now there's a shocking new development | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
meaning fake and illegal cigarettes can kill in more ways | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
than you might think. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:25 | |
So police and trading standards teams across the country | 0:02:25 | 0:02:29 | |
are cracking down. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:30 | |
Julie Grant from Spalding in Lincolnshire has had personal | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
experience of the devastating effect of fake cigarettes. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
Mum and Dad had been married for 51 years. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:46 | |
They met in their late teens. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:48 | |
Being a close-knit family, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
Julie ended up living just down the road from her mum and dad, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:54 | |
June and Peter Buffham. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
Mum had had a couple of strokes at the age of 50, which had affected | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
her mobility, and she ended up not being able to walk, move around. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:07 | |
She couldn't lift her own legs up. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
Dad had to do everything for her. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
He would get her ready on a Sunday evening | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
so that she could sit for an hour while he nipped out for a pint, | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
his little bit of respite after looking after her all day, | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
and she'd be happy. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
She had nothing much left in her life since her disability, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
but she did enjoy a cigarette, and that's what she'd have been doing. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
She'd have been sitting having a soft drink | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
and a cigarette watching her soaps. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
She'd have the phone on her knee just in case she needed Dad. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
In one of those evenings when Julie's dad had gone out, | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
Julie was at home with her husband. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
All of a sudden, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:47 | |
they received a phone call from the local police station. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
I spoke to this officer who said he had my father | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
at Spalding police station, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
and he needed me to go up there straightaway. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
Julie and her husband drove straight to the police station. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
She'll never forget what happened next. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
My father just looked up at me and said, "There's been a fire at home | 0:04:05 | 0:04:10 | |
"and your mum's dead." | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
Obviously he was in tears, and I gave him a hug. We were both in tears. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:20 | |
But...you're hearing, but you're not quite understanding what's going on. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
The fire had torn through June Buffham's lounge. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
The devastation was such that the family weren't able | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
to go to the house that night. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
But when Julie finally got there, she was shocked by what she found. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
It hit me like a brick. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:40 | |
Mind-blowing. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
If you've never experienced a fire, | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
you cannot comprehend what you're actually seeing. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:50 | |
Absolutely total devastation. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
The heat had just melted the television - it wasn't burnt, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
just melted, because of the heat. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
Complete mess. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
With the help of the coroner and the fire services, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:04 | |
Julie was able to piece together what had happened to her mum. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
Mum fell asleep, dropped the cigarette into the chair, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
where it lay there. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
And after laying there for what we've been told since | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
would only have been a very short period of time, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
it would have ignited. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
And because my mum was disabled | 0:05:23 | 0:05:24 | |
and was unable to get out of the chair, | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
there was no escape route for her. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:29 | |
So the fire had totally engulfed my mum. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:34 | |
But the investigation didn't end there, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
and it started to focus on the type of cigarette | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
Julie's mum had been smoking. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:43 | |
The coroner's assistant asked my father the question, | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
did my mother smoke the brand called Jin Ling? | 0:05:49 | 0:05:53 | |
And my father said that yes, | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
those were the cigarettes that Mum would have been smoking. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
And the coroner said that those would be used as part of the investigation. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:03 | |
It really didn't mean anything to us - | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
as far as we were concerned, they were just cigarettes. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
Jin Ling is an illegal brand, created for the black market | 0:06:09 | 0:06:13 | |
and smuggled across the world. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
And it can be dangerous | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
because of the type of paper used in the cigarettes. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
Dave Coss is a fire investigator with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
He was the first to examine the scene of the fire | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
at June Buffham's home, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
and he thinks he knows what caused her death. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
In November 2011, | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
the European directive came into force within the EU | 0:06:36 | 0:06:40 | |
that basically said that all cigarettes sold on retail market | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
within the European Union has to be reduced ignition propensity - | 0:06:43 | 0:06:48 | |
ie, they have to have two fire safety bands within them, | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
which will reduce the chances of the cigarette continuing to burn | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
if it's dropped down the side of a settee or a chair. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
Studies at the time were showing anything up to about 70% | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
less likelihood of a cigarette that's got the safety bands catching fire | 0:07:03 | 0:07:08 | |
when compared to a fake or illegal or illicit cigarette, | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
which has no fire safety features. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
Dave shows us how to tell the difference | 0:07:13 | 0:07:16 | |
between a genuine reduced ignition propensity cigarette | 0:07:16 | 0:07:20 | |
and a fake cigarette without the safety bands. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
First he examines a genuine Marlboro cigarette, | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
taken from a pack that we bought from a local shop. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:30 | |
Drawing a line with a marker pen | 0:07:30 | 0:07:31 | |
down the inside of a cigarette paper, | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
the fire safety bands become clearly visible. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
In order for a fire to continue burning, it needs heat, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
it needs oxygen and it needs fuel. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
And the idea behind the band is that the band is airtight, | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
so it takes away the air from those three components. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
So it only leaves the fuel and the heat, | 0:07:48 | 0:07:49 | |
which eventually means the fire will self-extinguish. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
But what about the fakes? | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
We gave Dave a fake Marlboro cigarette and a Jin Ling cigarette | 0:07:55 | 0:07:59 | |
from packs that were seized by Wolverhampton Trading Standards. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:04 | |
Clearly no fire safety bands within the paper. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:10 | |
If you compare that with the cigarette on the left, | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
you can clearly see the two breaks in the line - | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
those are the safety bands. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
Therefore you can confirm the two on the right are fake cigarettes | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
or illegal cigarettes, and the one on the left is a genuine cigarette. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
Dave wanted to demonstrate to Fake Britain | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
why fire safety bands are so important | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
by carrying out a simple burn test | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
in which fake and real cigarettes are lit and allowed to burn down. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
We're five minutes in on the clock. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
As you can see, the genuine Marlboro | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
with the fire safety band in has extinguished itself. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
The moment the smoulder has hit the fire safety band, | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
the fire safety band has extinguished it. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
The fake Marlboro and the Jin Ling | 0:08:54 | 0:08:56 | |
are almost halfway to three quarters burnt through. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
Ten minutes in and the fakes have failed miserably. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
The fake Marlboro's completely burnt down to the core, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
and if we look at the Jin Ling, | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
again, we're right down to the filter, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
and the filter is starting to burn now. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:16 | |
Down the side of a settee, that's ten minutes worth of sustained smoulder, | 0:09:16 | 0:09:20 | |
which would be sufficient to set fire to the settee. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
If you notice, now, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:24 | |
the Jin Ling one's actually starting to burn the filter. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
It's not even extinguished when it's hit the filter - | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
it's carried on burning straight through. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
Dave thinks this could be the key to June Buffham's death. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:37 | |
When we examined the Jin Lings that we'd recovered from the house, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
outside, it became very clear to us, obviously, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
that they were fake cigarettes. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:46 | |
They've not got the safety bands in them. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
So when this particular cigarette was dropped down the side of the chair, | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
it would have continued to smoulder for up to 20 minutes | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
before it actually started the fire. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
At June Buffham's inquest, the Lincolnshire coroner linked | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
illegal cigarettes with the house fire that caused her death. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:08 | |
The reality is, I've got something in my hand here that killed my mum. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:13 | |
Innocently killed my mum. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
Because of the way they're manufactured, | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
because of the paper that's used round the outside. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:22 | |
Because it won't extinguish. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
Um... | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
They're killers. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:28 | |
Simple as that. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:29 | |
And they need taking off of the high street. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
And they ARE being taken off the streets. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:34 | |
Later we're out with trading standards | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
and the police as they discover shocking numbers | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
of these potentially dangerous fake and illegal cigarettes. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:43 | |
I've just noticed you were quickly trying to rush away with this bag. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
These are becoming an increasingly popular sight on our streets. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:57 | |
More and more people are whizzing around on folding bikes. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:01 | |
One minute you're sitting on it, the next, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
you're carrying it like a briefcase. Very clever. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
This is a Brompton, and this one is a STRiDA, | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
and both were invented and developed by British designers - | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
but take a look at these. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
Almost identical to the Brompton and the STRiDA, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
but both illegal copies. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
The fakers' wheeling and dealing is damaging British business, | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
and putting cyclists at risk. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
Britain's gone collapsible crazy. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
The folding bikes are now a common sight in our cities, | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
as commuters pedal their way to and from work. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
And the Brompton is a very British success story. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:41 | |
The company now has 230 employees, | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
who hand-build around 45,000 folding bikes every year. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:49 | |
Bike nut Will Butler-Adams is Brompton's managing director. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
We make folding bikes. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
We are marginally obsessed with making folding bikes... | 0:11:55 | 0:11:59 | |
because they work. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
It's not easy to make a good folding bike, | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
with its multiple joints | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
and the constant stress from daily folding and unfolding. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
Trying to design something that puts up with that day in, day out, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:14 | |
year after year, is really tricky. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
And that requires attention to detail in every tiny little area. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
And that's what we spend our time doing. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
Will is mad about genuine Bromptons. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
But he's hopping mad about copies, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
which have been appearing all over the internet. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
The problems began when Andrew Ritchie, | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
the inventor of the Brompton, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
allowed a company in Eastern Asia | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
to make a licensed copy of the Brompton for distribution. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
He gave his baby away and tried to teach somebody how to do it. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
They didn't make it themselves - they got this person to make it. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
That person got this person to make it, | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
that person got this person to make it, Chinese whispers. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
The net result was a pretty diabolical thing. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
So Brompton backpedalled, and the license for Eastern Asia | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
to make shoddy Bromptons was not renewed. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
That's when the copycats shifted up a gear. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
People who had been suppliers thought, "Ooh! | 0:13:11 | 0:13:13 | |
"Maybe we can do it ourselves." | 0:13:13 | 0:13:14 | |
They never understood what they were doing from the outset. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
And in the meantime, our bike had moved on - but still they carried on. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
And that is a place where we have seen copies coming in illegally. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:26 | |
The illegal Bromptons were imported into several European countries. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
They weren't carrying the Brompton name, | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
but they all shared its unique design, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
which is protected by copyright. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:39 | |
When the Oxford folding bicycle, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
which looks identical to the Brompton, appeared in Spain, | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
Brompton went to court. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
They were trying to copy the look, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
and make people sort of think | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
that this was from the same family as the Brompton. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:57 | |
And we won the case. | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
The Spanish court ruled that the Brompton copy did infringe | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
their intellectual property rights. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
Despite the win, | 0:14:05 | 0:14:06 | |
Will is still concerned that people could be fooled | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
into thinking they're buying a bike made by Brompton when they're not. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:14 | |
The interesting thing about the Brompton is, | 0:14:14 | 0:14:16 | |
people don't look at a bike and look at the label | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
and go, "That's a Brompton." | 0:14:19 | 0:14:20 | |
The Brompton's so iconic, you know, you see one whizzing along, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
you know, "Oh, there's a Brompton." | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
Because it's so unique. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:29 | |
That's what people are trying to take, | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
and that's what they're trying to extract value from | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
in order to dupe the customer. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
Despite Brompton's wins against the fakers, | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
there are still huge numbers of bogus Bromptons out there | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
for sale on the internet. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
These are fake Bromptons. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:45 | |
No two ways about it. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
The fact that there is a bike that's indirectly pretending to be us, | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
selling off our reputation | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
and all the time and energy and work that we put in | 0:14:54 | 0:14:57 | |
to delivering that reputation, | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
by taking care with what we make, is really sad. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
And Brompton isn't the only British folding bike | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
to fall victim to the copycats. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
Mark Sanders is the inventor of the distinctive STRiDA folding bike. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
It took him years of research to perfect the design. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
It took massive effort. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
I mean, I spent every waking hour | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
just absolutely obsessed with this project. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
The end result was a folding bike with a clever triangular design. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:35 | |
The unique folding handlebar system | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
and locking and front joint system are protected by patents. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:42 | |
But that hasn't stopped the fakers. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
There's probably about 30 different factories making fakes. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:49 | |
There's, you know, maybe ten times the production | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
out of the fake factories than there is out of the official factory. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
And so, if you added all the fakes together with the official, | 0:15:56 | 0:16:00 | |
probably 90% of them are fakes. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
The first time I saw a fake STRiDA, | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
it was "STRiDA" but without the "i", so, "STRDA". | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
And it was advertised, you know, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
"Revolutionary folding bike - STRDA." | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
A quick look on the internet reveals a shocking number | 0:16:16 | 0:16:21 | |
of fake STRiDA bikes for sale. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:22 | |
Whoa! Look at all these STRiDAs! | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
This is quite amazing! | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
How many are there? | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
You can see they're making a lovely business out of it. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:35 | |
Look at them all lined up, ready to go. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
All these products are fakes of the genuine STRiDA bike. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:42 | |
And it's not long before Mark stumbles across | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
what looks like a promotional video for his STRiDA bike - | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
but the video has been made by the copycats. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
'More and more people require the bicycle with personal style...' | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
The cheek of trying to sell a product that I've designed | 0:16:55 | 0:17:00 | |
as their own to other people! It's just so funny. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
You know that this has come out of one of those fake factories | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
which have no quality control. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
Will Butler-Adams of Brompton and Mark Sanders of STRiDA | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
take the safety of their folding bikes seriously. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
What about the fakes? | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
Will and Mark decided to get hold of fake versions of their bikes. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
Seconds into the unboxing of the copycat Brompton, | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
and Will isn't impressed. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
So, first thing we notice, before we even go any further, | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
this has snapped off. The roller wheel. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
Mark Sanders isn't faring much better with the fake STRiDA | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
he bought online. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:40 | |
The brake pivot screw has actually just dropped out. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
I mean, that is just so dangerous! | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
And - whoops! | 0:17:47 | 0:17:48 | |
That is a joke. Well, that's not working. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
It's not even clipping. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
It's a lot more flimsier than the genuine article. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
Oh, my... No, no, that's... Oh, hold on, the reflector's fallen off. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:18:00 | 0:18:01 | |
Yep, this is good. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:03 | |
And all this folding flimsiness | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
before our aficionados have even ridden the bikes. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
Yay! | 0:18:07 | 0:18:09 | |
So you stop, and - whoop! | 0:18:09 | 0:18:10 | |
That's pretty... | 0:18:10 | 0:18:11 | |
HE GRUNTS ..iffy. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
God! It feels terrible. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
It's all floppy. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:17 | |
The handlebars are loose, the crank's loose, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
the whole frame's loose! | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
I don't even dare ride it at any speed at all. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
Incredible! | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
It's so rickety. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:30 | |
I can't actually lift my legs up, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
because they're hitting the handlebar. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:36 | |
Here we go. Whoa! | 0:18:36 | 0:18:37 | |
The crank is incredibly loose. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
It's so unbelievably bad. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
Aah! | 0:18:44 | 0:18:46 | |
Aaaah! | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
It's like cycling on a blancmange. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
Will decides to carry out an impromptu brake test on his bike. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
OK? And I'm going to shove the brakes on... | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
now! | 0:18:58 | 0:18:59 | |
I mean, that is a joke. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
Joking aside, Mark and Will's hands-on experience | 0:19:03 | 0:19:07 | |
with copycat folding bikes has left them with serious safety concerns. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:11 | |
I know the standard that the genuine thing has to pass, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:15 | |
and the testing it has to go through, | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
the careful analysis of all the materials that go into it, | 0:19:19 | 0:19:24 | |
the really strict quality assurance of every single component, | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
before it's even allowed on the bike. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
All that stuff is ignored on a fake. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
And then I feel really scared for people that buy those products. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:39 | |
But these folding bikes aren't just endangering the people riding them. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
They're also threatening the British designers | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
and inventors responsible for bringing the originals to our roads. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:51 | |
What happens with small to medium sized British companies | 0:19:51 | 0:19:56 | |
is that they will spend all their time doing the R and D, | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
developing new designs, developing new products, testing them, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:04 | |
and then they will get them out on the market, | 0:20:04 | 0:20:06 | |
and then somebody will just copy all that work. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
Fake products are bad for UK plc. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:16 | |
And if we don't do something to protect the innovators | 0:20:16 | 0:20:23 | |
and the risk-takers, then they won't be there. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
And that would be very bad for the British economy. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
Earlier we saw the devastation | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
that fake cigarettes can leave in their wake. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:43 | |
My father said, "There's been a fire at home | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
"and your mum's dead." | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
The fire that killed June Buffham was linked to a Jin Ling cigarette. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:53 | |
Jin Ling is a Russian brand designed purely for smuggling. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:58 | |
In other words, it's a fake and illegal brand - | 0:20:58 | 0:21:02 | |
and it's exploded onto the international market. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
Customs officials are calling Jin Ling | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
the most seized brand in Europe. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
The packaging resembles the American brand Camel, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
even down to its colouring and typeface, | 0:21:13 | 0:21:15 | |
but instead of a camel on the Jin Ling package, | 0:21:15 | 0:21:18 | |
there's a mountain goat. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:19 | |
These fake cigarettes are even out there in our shops. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
Over several days, Fake Britain followed trading standards | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
and the police across the country | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
on the hunt for the potentially deadly Jin Ling cigarettes. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
Good boy. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:35 | |
Debra Craner and her team from Wolverhampton Trading Standards | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
are joining forces with two specialists with a nose for fakery - | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
tobacco detection dogs Indie and Bradley. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
He's got the dream of all jobs. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
You have, yeah. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:48 | |
Working with dogs all day, yeah. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
Debra and her team know that Jin Ling cigarettes can kill, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
so it's a race against time | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
to get them off the shelves before anyone else is harmed. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
Their intelligence has led them to a shop suspected of selling | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
Jin Lings and other fake tobacco products. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
Hi, I'm from trading standards. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
Wolverhampton City Council. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
We're just here today, we're just doing routine inspections, | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
and we just want to look at your tobacco and cigarettes. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
Time to unleash Indie. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
I just want the dogs to check the other side of the till. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
Just cos you think that void, there's some... | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
Just there. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
It's not long before she finds something of interest | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
right behind the counter. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
-Oh, yeah. -No government health warning on them. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
Been brought in illegally to the country. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:45 | |
Quite possibly the cigarettes are counterfeit, | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
but it will be confirmed. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
So far they haven't uncovered any of the Jin Lings. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:53 | |
But just around the corner, | 0:22:53 | 0:22:54 | |
it's not long before Indie sniffs out something else. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
Oh... | 0:22:57 | 0:22:58 | |
And there we go. | 0:22:58 | 0:22:59 | |
Well done, Indie, well done. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
Good girl. Good girl. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:03 | |
Concealed within these bin bags, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
an array of fake Golden Virginia and fake Amber Leaf. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:11 | |
It's great to see the dogs working and in action. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:15 | |
Hundreds of fake cigarettes have been seized already, | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
but still no sign of the potentially deadly Jin Lings. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
But there's still the basement to check, | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
and Indie the detection dog doesn't need to be asked twice. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
Good girl! Good girl. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
Indie's very interested in this sofa. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
Oh, yeah. We've got a huge supply here. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
Finally they've found what they're looking for. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
This sofa is concealing thousands of Jin Ling cigarettes - | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
the very same fake brand linked to the death of June Buffham. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:46 | |
This is just a huge supply. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
Debra's shocked by what they've found - and where they've found it. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
It's the first time I've come across, inside the sofa - | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
but these unscrupulous traders, | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
they're always trying to keep one step ahead. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
They're always thinking of, you know, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:02 | |
"Where will trading standards not look?" | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
And that's the advantage today, particularly, of having the dogs. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
The fake cigarettes are counted, | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
bagged, tagged and taken away for analysis. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
In total they seize well over 5,000 Jin Ling cigarettes. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:20 | |
With no time to lose, Debra and the team race to the next shop | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
suspected of selling Jin Ling cigarettes. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
This time, the officers will have to keep a low profile. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
This area has a few shops where they have got lookouts. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:37 | |
And previous operations that we've carried out, | 0:24:37 | 0:24:39 | |
we've been aware that people are looking out | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
and making those quick calls warning people to get rid of stock. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
It appears as if the lookouts are earning their keep, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
as Debra meets a man who's in a hurry to leave. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
I just noticed you were quickly trying to rush away with this bag, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
-so I'm just going to put this bag here, because... -Yeah, yeah. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
Oh, yeah. I'm going to take a look in this bag, OK? | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
Cos I can already see you've got some cigarettes in here. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
He was just about to leg it, so I've just had to stop him from legging it. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:11 | |
-Right. -With a bag. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
He's got hundreds of Jin Lings | 0:25:13 | 0:25:14 | |
and other fake cigarettes in his rucksack. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
And with thousands of pounds in cash found behind the counter, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
clearly business is booming. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:22 | |
Goodness me. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:23 | |
So, yeah... | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
Certainly the Golden Virginia is confirmed by the brand holder, | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
that is counterfeit. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
There's a strong possibility, therefore, that the others will be. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
Over in Lincolnshire, | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
trading standards officer Dan Brown is hoping | 0:25:40 | 0:25:42 | |
that detection dog Bradley's keen sense of smell | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
will smoke out some of the fake cigarettes flooding the county. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
Being a black market brand, | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
it's easy to spot an illegal packet of Jin Ling cigarettes - | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
but it's harder to tell whether a packet of Marlboro cigarettes | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
is the real thing or just a convincing fake. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
Luckily Dan has some help | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
in the form of this portable counterfeit cigarette detector. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
What we've got here is a handy little device | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
that reads the seal in the tobacco packaging. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
And it's an indicator | 0:26:13 | 0:26:14 | |
to whether the packet of cigarettes is genuine or not. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
We'll look at this packet of Marlboro that was found in the back, | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
and this one that we've taken off the shelf here, look. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
When I put this genuine packet of cigarettes on here, | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
they will get an amber or a green reading. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
The machine confirms that these cigarettes are real. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
But with some of the other cigarettes they've seized, | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
it's a different story. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:34 | |
Then we get this packet of Marlboros that we found out in the back. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
Place this on the reader - the indicator will stay on red. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
It doesn't turn amber or green. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
This is not a Marlboro Red - it's a Marlboro red light. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
So therefore I suspect that they're counterfeit. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
With over 25,000 fake cigarettes seized between them, | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
it's a great result | 0:26:56 | 0:26:57 | |
for Wolverhampton and Lincolnshire Trading Standards. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:01 | |
We've got the Jin Ling brand of cigarette | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
that fail the ignition propensity testing. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
They do not self-extinguish, | 0:27:06 | 0:27:07 | |
so they'll keep on burning all the way down. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
Later we see the shocking results of our fake cigarette burn test. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:15 | |
Anyone within that room would be unconscious or dead now. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:19 | |
When you've worked hard for your home | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
and everything that's in it, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:30 | |
you might want to protect it with a burglar alarm. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
Your insurance company will probably ask you to get it fitted | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
by someone who's accredited by an official security approval body. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
If you get burgled, this certificate is a seal of approval, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
meaning that your insurer should pay out. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
But THIS certificate is a fake, | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
and it's not worth the paper it's written on. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:54 | |
Do you know who's fitting your burglar alarm? | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
Having your home burgled can take a great deal of getting over, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
but in Britain it's a reality for one person every 40 seconds. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:07 | |
There are over a million victims of burglary or attempted burglary | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
across the country every year. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
Lorraine White knows how it feels. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
When I was burgled, my bedroom had been completely ransacked, | 0:28:22 | 0:28:27 | |
my jewellery had been taken, other property had been taken. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:31 | |
The burglar had stolen Lorraine's possessions and her confidence. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:37 | |
You do not feel safe in your own home. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:41 | |
You feel very paranoid about locking doors and windows before you leave. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:45 | |
When you arrive home, is there someone in your house? | 0:28:45 | 0:28:48 | |
You feel very vulnerable, very insecure. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
I needed a burglar alarm to help with the security in relation to that. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:56 | |
Lorraine's insurance company said her burglar alarm | 0:28:56 | 0:28:59 | |
would need to be fitted by a company | 0:28:59 | 0:29:01 | |
approved by one of the two main security approval bodies. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:05 | |
Either NACOSS NSI, the National Security Inspectorate, | 0:29:05 | 0:29:09 | |
or SSAIB, Security Systems and Alarms Inspections Board. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:15 | |
You should be able to trust security companies | 0:29:15 | 0:29:17 | |
with either of these stamps of approval. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
It means they've vetted their employees. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:22 | |
And going with an approved company means you're much more likely | 0:29:22 | 0:29:25 | |
to get an insurance payout if you get burgled. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
Lorraine searched the web and found burglar alarm fitter Nick Parker. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:33 | |
When I called Nick Parker on the telephone, | 0:29:33 | 0:29:35 | |
I specifically mentioned that I needed him to be qualified, | 0:29:35 | 0:29:39 | |
needed him to be approved. | 0:29:39 | 0:29:41 | |
He stated that he was, and that is a service he could provide for me, | 0:29:41 | 0:29:45 | |
so I agreed to let him come along and give me a quote inside my property. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:49 | |
Lorraine went with the quote. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
Nick Parker fitted the alarm and gave her everything she needed | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
to satisfy her home insurance company. | 0:29:57 | 0:29:59 | |
This was the certificate that I got sent from Nick Parker. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
As you can see, it says "SSAIB", which is exactly what I needed | 0:30:03 | 0:30:07 | |
to comply with the insurance company regulations. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
I sent that to my insurance company, they accepted it, | 0:30:10 | 0:30:13 | |
and that's what gave me my house insurance cover. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
Lorraine was finally starting to feel secure in her own home. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:21 | |
But all that was about to change. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
I received a telephone call from trading standards | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
claiming that Nick Parker was actually a fraud. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:30 | |
Nick Parker told me he was NACOSS and SSAIB registered. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:37 | |
Trading standards informed me that he wasn't. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
He'd actually lied about that. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
It was time for Lorraine to look a little closer | 0:30:44 | 0:30:47 | |
at the security certificate she'd given to her insurance company. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
I now know that this certificate is fake. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
Everything on it is fake. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:55 | |
The logo, the signature from the "chief executive" - | 0:30:55 | 0:30:59 | |
who am I to question it? | 0:30:59 | 0:31:01 | |
I can't tell a fake certificate from a genuine one. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:05 | |
Lorraine had unwittingly misled her insurance company | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
about the new alarm being approved. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
This fake certificate had left Lorraine uninsured for two years, | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
and at risk of losing everything for a second time. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:18 | |
I was paying him to provide me with a service | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
in relation to a burglar alarm, | 0:31:21 | 0:31:23 | |
that effectively was a waste of money, | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
because my insurance company wouldn't have paid out. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
Had it have happened to me a second time, | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
and not being covered by my house insurance, | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
and losing absolutely everything again, | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
I don't know how I would have coped with that. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
Nick Parker made me feel very angry. | 0:31:40 | 0:31:43 | |
I'd already been the victim of a burglary - | 0:31:43 | 0:31:46 | |
I didn't want another criminal in my home, | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
and technically Nick Parker is a criminal | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
because of what he's done. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:52 | |
Shockingly, Nick Parker's fakery | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
didn't stop at his claims of being SSAIB accredited - | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
as Mark Rolfe from Kent Trading Standards discovered, | 0:31:59 | 0:32:04 | |
Parker's claims of quick response times to his customers in Kent | 0:32:04 | 0:32:08 | |
also didn't ring true. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:09 | |
All of the numbers that Parker uses here | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
are, in effect, fake local numbers. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
They're all genuine numbers inasmuch as they'll ring, | 0:32:15 | 0:32:18 | |
but they'll ring on his mobile phone at his business address in Thanet. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:23 | |
Which, from some of these towns listed here, is an hour's drive. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:27 | |
So this is him making a fake claim | 0:32:27 | 0:32:29 | |
to suggest that he is a local business | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
based in all of these towns across Kent. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:35 | |
As Parker's lies unravelled, | 0:32:35 | 0:32:37 | |
Mark Rolfe discovered that he was also lying | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
about being accredited to the highest NACOSS Gold standard. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:43 | |
But Parker's fakery didn't stop there. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
Terry Roffey runs Brook Security, | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
a successful NACOSS NSI accredited burglar alarm company in Kent. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:58 | |
Terry's business was also to fall prey to Nick Parker. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
We've worked really hard at building up a reputation for quality service. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:08 | |
Customer friendly. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:09 | |
And then we had a call out of the blue from trading standards | 0:33:09 | 0:33:13 | |
to tell us that we had unhappy customers that had been misled. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:17 | |
They've had to pay cash. Level of service was poor. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:21 | |
After a lengthy conversation with trading standards, | 0:33:21 | 0:33:24 | |
the name Nick Parker came up. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
Terry was horrified to learn | 0:33:27 | 0:33:28 | |
that Parker had been falsely trading under the name of Brook Security | 0:33:28 | 0:33:33 | |
on a local website providing free business listings. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
This guy was trading under our name, issuing fake certificates, really. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:42 | |
We issue a certificate of compliance that's required by insurers | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
- or often required by insurers - | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
and the work he was doing was, in effect, fake, | 0:33:49 | 0:33:53 | |
with fake documentation. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:55 | |
Terry showed Fake Britain | 0:33:55 | 0:33:57 | |
what a genuine accredited security certificate should look like. | 0:33:57 | 0:34:01 | |
It's got the name and address of the client, | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
it's got the standard that the system has been installed to, | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
it's got the details of the date of installation, | 0:34:06 | 0:34:09 | |
information of our accreditation body, certificate number. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
So, it's a lot of detail on there. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:16 | |
This is one that was issued for a fake system. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
It has no detail of the standard that the system is installed to, | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
it has no detail of the client's address | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
and premises that it was installed at. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
It's totally fake, it's not worth the paper it's written on. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:32 | |
To this day, Terry can't tell exactly how much | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
Nick Parker's deception has cost his company. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:40 | |
We would've had losses of thousands of pounds | 0:34:40 | 0:34:44 | |
in lost income from the installation | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
and ongoing support services that we provide to them over the years. | 0:34:48 | 0:34:52 | |
By now, Mark Rolfe from Kent Trading Standards | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
had enough evidence against Nick Parker. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
As far as he was concerned, | 0:35:00 | 0:35:01 | |
Parker's fakery constituted a huge breach of trust. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:05 | |
When we as homeowners decide who to use to fit a burglar alarm | 0:35:05 | 0:35:10 | |
to our house, we're actually trusting them | 0:35:10 | 0:35:12 | |
with the security of our families and our possessions. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
For people to find out that actually their burglar alarm engineer | 0:35:15 | 0:35:19 | |
has committed fraud to get the business from them | 0:35:19 | 0:35:23 | |
actually undermines their confidence in the security industry. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
Finally, sentencing day arrived for Nick Parker - | 0:35:28 | 0:35:32 | |
and Mark Rolfe was there for the result. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
Nick Parker's been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, | 0:35:34 | 0:35:38 | |
suspended for two years, | 0:35:38 | 0:35:39 | |
to a night-time curfew, so he can't leave his home between 7pm and 7am, | 0:35:39 | 0:35:44 | |
and to a £5,000 costs order. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:45 | |
It's exactly the right kind of sentence for the kind of fakery | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
and fraudulent behaviour that he was involved in. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
We tried to catch up with Mr Parker... | 0:35:54 | 0:35:56 | |
Just wondering if you've got anything to say to the victims. | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
..but he wasn't in a talkative mood. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:01 | |
If you want to check if your alarm company's accredited with NACOSS NSI | 0:36:04 | 0:36:09 | |
or SSAIB, you can search for NSI approved companies on their website, | 0:36:09 | 0:36:14 | |
or search for a registered firm on the SSAIB website. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
Earlier we followed trading standards officers | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
seizing thousands of fake cigarettes across the country. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
They uncovered a haul of Jin Lings - | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
the very same brand that caused the death of June Buffham. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:39 | |
Emma Milligan from Lincolnshire Trading Standards | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
lives and works just down the road from where June Buffham died. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
It was a great shock to Lincolnshire Trading Standards | 0:36:47 | 0:36:50 | |
to hear about the death of June Buffham, | 0:36:50 | 0:36:52 | |
where the coroner linked her death to fake Jin Ling cigarettes. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:56 | |
It did spur us on to look at the safety of these products. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
Emma and other trading standards officers across the country | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
now have the power to prosecute people selling fake cigarettes | 0:37:05 | 0:37:08 | |
because they're potentially dangerous. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
Previously we only took cases under Trade Marks Act, | 0:37:11 | 0:37:15 | |
so it's more likely that a trader will be prosecuted | 0:37:15 | 0:37:19 | |
for selling unsafe product that, you know, could lead to a house fire | 0:37:19 | 0:37:24 | |
and a tragedy, like we saw in Lincolnshire. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
Emma and her team have had some big wins against the criminals | 0:37:28 | 0:37:31 | |
selling potentially dangerous fake and illegal cigarettes. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:36 | |
In a landmark case, | 0:37:36 | 0:37:37 | |
they brought the first ever prosecution in the country | 0:37:37 | 0:37:41 | |
against a shopkeeper on safety grounds. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
Shapoor Atiqi of Boston Food and Wine | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
admitted selling non-self-extinguishing, | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
potentially dangerous Jin Ling and other fake brand cigarettes | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
out of this shop - which is now under new ownership, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
and has a new name. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:56 | |
Lincolnshire Trading Standards, along with Lincolnshire police, | 0:37:56 | 0:38:00 | |
found fake Jin Ling cigarettes underneath the floor. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:02 | |
Mr Atiqi had to do 270 hours' community service, | 0:38:02 | 0:38:07 | |
along with paying over £5,000 fines. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
The coroner had linked fake Jin Ling cigarettes | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
to a tragic house fire where June Buffham died. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:18 | |
Trading standards takes this matter so seriously | 0:38:18 | 0:38:21 | |
that we wanted to protect other consumers from purchasing such goods. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:24 | |
Tonight, Emma's joining forces with officers from Lincolnshire Police | 0:38:26 | 0:38:30 | |
to hunt down a man who's been selling illegal and fake cigarettes. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:34 | |
The suspect that we're looking for today | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
has been linked to the supply of unsafe cigarettes. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:41 | |
They hunt high and low in the neighbourhood for the suspect. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
DOORBELL RINGS | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
The officers get a lead that the man could be at this address. | 0:38:56 | 0:39:00 | |
Hello? | 0:39:00 | 0:39:01 | |
HE KNOCKS | 0:39:01 | 0:39:03 | |
Can you open the door, please? It's the police. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
-Hello. -Hi. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:08 | |
We're after someone we believe you might know, might be living here. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
The man they're looking for is nowhere to be seen. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:16 | |
But, interestingly, the man answering the door | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
was later convicted of tobacco-related offences. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:22 | |
One of the males inside did work at one of the premises | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
where we have found unsafe and illegal tobacco. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
So he may know the whereabouts of the suspect. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
Right... | 0:39:31 | 0:39:32 | |
The man they set out to arrest is Khalid Muhammad Jasin. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
He's been found guilty of 30 charges related to illegal tobacco, | 0:39:38 | 0:39:43 | |
and they didn't find him. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:44 | |
The most recent government figures show | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
that there were 42,000 house fires in the UK between 2012 and 2013. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
The London Fire Brigade told us | 0:39:57 | 0:39:59 | |
that half of accidental fatal fires last year | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
were caused by smokers' materials. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
And nearly ten fires a week | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
are caused by the careless disposal of cigarettes. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
It's not known how many of those fires | 0:40:10 | 0:40:12 | |
are started by fake cigarettes. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
There is a massive increase in risk of death and injury | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
to those people smoking in their own homes, | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
that carelessly discard their cigarettes. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
Lincolnshire Fire and Recue were so concerned | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
about the risks surrounding fake cigarettes falling onto sofas | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
that they decided to run a demonstration to raise awareness. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
Fire safety manager Karl Turrill agreed to let Fake Britain film it. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:42 | |
They'll use an ageing sofa, | 0:40:44 | 0:40:45 | |
produced before the introduction of fire safety legislation. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:49 | |
It's the sort of thing you might find in many homes | 0:40:49 | 0:40:51 | |
across the country. | 0:40:51 | 0:40:53 | |
This is one of the fake cigarettes we've got here. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
We're going to place it on the side of the sofa. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
As you can see, the cigarette has taken. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:03 | |
The fake cigarette smoulders away, | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
and just a few minutes later, the flames take hold. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
Already it's starting to produce quite a lot of smoke. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:10 | |
That smoke is toxic. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:11 | |
As things heat up, | 0:41:13 | 0:41:14 | |
Karl uses his thermal imaging camera to measure the temperature. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:18 | |
That's up past 400 degrees there, now. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:21 | |
I can zoom in there - | 0:41:22 | 0:41:24 | |
437 degrees. It's an acrid, burning smell. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:28 | |
All it takes is one or two breaths of this and most people will pass out. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:33 | |
It's not long before the fire is raging out of control, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:36 | |
and the Fake Britain camera crew is pulled back for their own safety. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:40 | |
The amount of smoke that's being generated now | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
is just much too dangerous for us to be near. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:47 | |
You can see the vast amount of smoke that's being produced, | 0:41:47 | 0:41:50 | |
just from one little sofa. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:52 | |
All of this started from the one fake cigarette. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:55 | |
As the temperature inside this makeshift sitting room | 0:41:55 | 0:41:58 | |
hits 540 degrees, | 0:41:58 | 0:41:59 | |
it's hot enough to reduce the television | 0:41:59 | 0:42:02 | |
into a bubbling mass of molten plastic. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:05 | |
Karl's under no illusions as to the consequences | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
of an inferno like this. | 0:42:09 | 0:42:11 | |
Smoke - thick, black, acrid smoke. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
Anyone within that room would be unconscious or dead now. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
This fire is a perfect demonstration of what illegal cigarettes, | 0:42:22 | 0:42:26 | |
fake cigarettes can do. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:27 | |
The fire reached temperatures of well over 700 degrees. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:32 | |
And it's basically torn through that entire room in minutes. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:36 | |
Anyone in there, sadly, would not have made it. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:39 | |
Cigarettes in general are terrible. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
But fake cigarettes are even worse. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:47 | |
That's all from Fake Britain. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:57 | |
Goodbye. | 0:42:57 | 0:42:58 |