Episode 14 Fake Britain

Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems.

Welcome to Fake Britain.

Police!

-Get down, get down!

-Get on the floor now!

Put your hands behind your back now!

Here at the Fake Britain house, things might look familiar, but

don't be taken in, because this is a house that is filled with fakes.

In this series, I'll be revealing the counterfeits, copies and cons

that are flooding the market, fooling the public,

making money for the criminals and maybe even putting you in danger.

We'll be investigating those fraudsters

who are cashing in by selling us something that isn't real,

and we'll be showing you how to avoid falling for a fake.

Today on Fake Britain...

Trading Standards clamping down on the rogue operators using

fake ATOL memberships to convince travellers to part with thousands.

I was really disgusted that anybody could do that.

The fake LED lights that are shockingly bad.

It's seriously dangerous and potentially life-threatening.

The huge haul of fake goods flooding the country.

We reveal what's for sale at just one high street shop.

He didn't want to actually give me access to the basement,

and now I can see why.

And the tragic story of the young boy killed by

fake almond powder in his curry.

It's absolutely destroyed that family. It really has.

When it comes to holidays, we Brits are big spenders.

We pay an average of around £1,000 per person to get us

out of the nine-to-five. That's a lot of money.

And when we sign up to fly away on our package trip,

it makes to sense to know our money and holiday are protected.

This sign on your glossy brochure says they are.

It means the company has an Air Travel Operators' Licence -

ATOL. So, that's all OK then...except this is a fake.

This company didn't have a licence.

And as we are about to find out, you may need to take a closer

look at your travel operator the next time you book a holiday.

When David and Marlene Jackson from East Sussex retired, they were

finally able to look forward to planning their holiday in Russia.

I came across this company called Russian Gateway.

Excellent website, very well written, very clear, good photographs,

good description of the ship that we would be going on,

a very professional presentation.

It gave the impression that Russian Gateway was the specialist

company, and because of that, it generated a feeling of trust.

So far, so good with the company's website.

But being seasoned travellers,

David and Marlene knew to look for a travel company that would

protect their money should things take a turn for the worse.

The ATOL logo in particular was something which encouraged us

as it was a bona fide company, a bona fide claim, and that we

were covered if there was any cancellation of any kind at all.

ATOL is a protection scheme for air holidays managed

by the Civil Aviation Authority.

And ATOL tour operator protects you from losing money or

being stranded abroad if the company goes bust.

Convinced that they had found the right company to

arrange their holiday, the Jacksons took the plunge

and booked their Russian adventure.

But their plans for the trip abroad were about to be sunk...

by a series of forest fires around Moscow.

It was about a week before we were due to go that we were advised

not to go, so we cancelled that trip and we talked about it

and decided to postpone for a year.

David and Marlene's holiday would have to wait.

They had already paid for it and were desperate to go,

so decided to leave their money with Alan Steel,

the director of Russia Gateway UK Limited of Leamington Spa,

not to be confused with any other company of a similar name.

They looked forward to their holiday.

We got in touch with them again, we fixed the dates.

He told us the hotel we'd be staying in.

He told us the flights we'd be on.

It seemed that the holiday would be going ahead,

so they spent £750 on ballet tickets, which they

arranged to be sent to their hotel in Moscow.

We then got a message from the ticket agency that we booked through

to say they had tried to deliver the tickets to the hotel,

but the hotel didn't know anything about us.

And that was sort of the first indication that something was

going wrong with the second trip.

With their holiday drawing closer

and their hotel having no record of their booking,

David got back in touch with Alan Steel at Russian Gateway.

He was having financial problems with his Russian suppliers

and he was due to see his bank manager the following day.

This is a week before we were due to go on holiday.

The Jacksons didn't know what to think.

Up till literally two days before we were due to go,

we were being told there was still a possibility we'd go.

To be quite honest, I think it was just unbelievable.

I mean, there are your suitcases that you have started to pack

and come to a grinding halt.

I was really upset about it, wasn't I?

I think, really, you still have sleepless nights.

It was just awful.

I mean, we just didn't know what was going to happen.

Finally, Russian Gateway admitted it to the couple

that they wouldn't be going on their long-awaited trip.

David demanded a refund, but company director Alan Steel said

they could only afford to pay them back in instalments.

We said, "What we'd like you to do is to pay us so much a month in advance,

"from September onwards."

And he agreed to that in principle.

In reality, they didn't get back one penny,

despite months of phone calls and e-mails asking for a refund.

We personally, total, had lost just over £3,000.

It's a lot of money. It was for us.

The Jacksons thought their money would be protected.

Surely the ATOL logos they had seen were proof of that.

So David contacted the Civil Aviation Authority,

who manage the ATOL scheme, to see if they could help.

And it was at that point that we were told that in fact

he was no longer a member, and he hadn't been a member for six years,

which means he had been fraudulently displaying the ATOL logo

throughout that period when he wasn't entitled to do so.

Marlene was horrified that they had been duped by what

was in fact a fake ATOL logo.

When we found out that the ATOL logo

and the claims to be a member of ATOL were fake...

..I was really disgusted that anybody could do that.

You see all these symbols appearing all over the place

and you take them for granted that, in fact, if they display them,

then they are entitled to display them.

We both thought that the ATOL logo was genuine.

-We had no way...

-We had no reason to think otherwise.

But the fakery didn't just end with the ATOL logos,

David and Marlene realised that the claim

made by Allen Steel in the small print of the brochure

that their money was protected was utterly worthless.

So, in the terms and conditions, it is quite clear that he says

he was covered by an insurance bond to comply with European regulations.

-That was a fake claim. That is total misrepresentation.

-That is.

Russian Gateway's fakery had ruined David and Marlene's holiday plans.

So was initially extreme disappointment,

as it was cancelled, followed by hope that we were able to go eventually,

followed by anger when we couldn't.

The Jacksons weren't the only ones to be duped by Russian Gateway.

Eleanor Lake, from Warwickshire Trading Standards,

had received dozens of phone calls from disgruntled holiday-makers

who had been misled by the travel company.

It was large-scale fraud.

We was aware of around 31 consumers who were affected as a result

of this, and they had lost in the region of £140,000.

Many of the people who lost their money were elderly and vulnerable.

The sort of victims that we had in this case were older pensioners.

This was the holiday of a lifetime for quite a lot of them,

and £3,000 to £4,000 wasn't an unusual amount of money

for people to have lost.

Many of the holiday-makers thought they'd been doing the right thing

by specifically looking for assurances that

their money would be protected should the worst happen.

Consumers have said that they were particularly looking out for

an ATOL logo as a form of protection for them.

All British firms selling flight packages are legally required

to hold an ATOL licence and show the logo.

This would be a fake use of their logo.

He didn't have permission to produce it.

And consumers would be misled into believing that they were

getting some sort of protection when they were not.

It turned out that Russian Gateway wasn't just faking its ATOL logos,

the company also claimed to be a member of ABTA -

the Association of British Travel Agents.

It is a stamp of approval and should mean customers receive high

standards of service and accurate information.

One of the consumers was concerned that they didn't know

Mr Steel's ABTA number.

Rather than admitting that he didn't have an ABTA number

because he wasn't an ABTA registered business, he actually

produced an e-mail to this witness and he created a fake ABTA number.

The ABTA number did belong to a genuine business,

and that business had a similar sounding name to Mr Steel's.

And his hope was that this consumer would be fooled

by that false number. And that would make them

feel confident enough to pay the rest of the money for the booking.

As Eleanor dug deeper, it became clear that Russian Gateway

offered its customers absolutely no protection.

What Mr Steel had done was told people that their money would be

kept secure until they came back from the holiday, but he had lied.

He had made these false statements that that money was protected.

And nothing could prepare Eleanor for the reality of what

Mr Steel was actually doing with his customers' money.

When we obtained the bank account details for Mr Steel,

you could actually see that he was using his business

account for his personal expenses.

You could see his shopping was coming out of that account,

so various personal groceries were coming on there.

So there was no evidence that money had gone in from a consumer and then

that same amount of money had gone into some sort of trust account.

The business was spiralling out of control

and all of Russian Gateway's customers were at risk.

The very thing that the package travel regulations are there

to protect against is if a company goes bust,

and that is the very thing that happened in this case, is that the

company went into liquidation

and all of that money that consumers had interested, around £140,000

worth of consumer money, disappeared overnight.

Fortunately, the holiday-makers who lost out to

Russian Gateway's ATOL and ABTA fakery eventually managed

to get their money back

as a result of the case brought by Warwickshire Trading Standards.

Alan Steel had to sell his luxury home to pay his prosecution

costs - he was ordered to pay over £135,000 in compensation

to 31 victims, and he was sent to prison.

Mr Steel was given a 2.5 year custodial sentence,

which reflects the scale of the fraud.

The judge said that the actions that Mr Steel had done had

undermined confidence in the travel industry

and the judge had taken a lot of regard of the impact

statements given by the witnesses

and this holiday of a lifetime was lost to them.

Eleanor has some advice for anyone out there who might be

planning a holiday.

Consumers can go onto the Civil Aviation Authority's website

and check an ATOL for themselves to find out

whether a company is ATOL protected.

Coming up, we're out with Trading Standards as they crack

down on the tour operators putting holiday-makers at risk.

They would be handing over £4,000, £5,000 a package.

They are not protected.

We are a nation of curry lovers, with over 20 million of us

tucking into something like this every month.

And this is almond powder, used in loads of different curries.

But we have discovered that some almond powder out there is fake.

So it is not just almonds that will be in your curry.

It could be something that is proved fatal for some allergy sufferers.

Previously on Fake Britain,

we have come across all kinds of food fakery,

from fake lamb to fake fish.

But now there is a new and potentially deadly kind of fakery

out there involving the almond powder used to thicken

and flavour curries.

In some cases, almond powder is being adulterated with peanuts.

Trading Standards are finding fake almond powder

in restaurants across the country.

And that could be a problem for the half a million people in the UK

who have a peanut allergy.

The problem is getting worse,

with around 4,000 people being newly diagnosed each year.

Detective Chief Inspector Michael Fraser knows all too well the very

real dangers of fake almond powder.

He investigated the case of 12-year-old Connor Donaldson.

Connor was a perfectly healthy boy with the exception that he was

an asthma sufferer.

He was also diagnosed as having a nut allergy.

That particular day, the family decided

they were going to have a takeaway - curry - from the local takeaway.

Because of Connor's peanut allergy, his mum asked the restaurant

to confirm that his prawn balti would not contain any peanuts.

They confirmed there were no peanuts in the dish.

Just moments after his first few mouthfuls,

Connor was unable to breathe.

He had gone into anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction.

Connor was rushed by ambulance to hospital.

An emergency staff did all they could to help him,

but it was too late.

After arriving at the hospital, it was confirmed that Connor had died.

It's absolutely devastating for any family to lose a loved one.

It is particularly devastating when that loved one is a young child

within your family, within your community.

It's absolutely destroyed that family. It really has.

From that moment on, it was DCI Fraser's job to find out why

and how Connor had died.

Traces of peanut were actually found within his body.

Subsequent investigation at the local takeaway found that they

didn't have peanuts within that takeaway, within

any of their recipes whatsoever.

While peanuts weren't used as an ingredient in the recipes,

the restaurant had used almond paste,

but shockingly, almonds weren't the only nut present in the paste.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the actual almond paste

and the almond powders within the restaurant had actually been

adulterated by up to 50% peanut content.

Connor's death has been caused because almonds have been adulterated

somewhere in the food chain by peanuts.

But it wasn't going to be easy to find out where or when

the almond powder had been faked.

There was absolute no suggestion whatsoever that the adulteration

of that almond with those peanuts took place

within that particular takeaway.

You then have to start looking back in the food supply chain,

and there were so many different areas of where that

adulteration could occur that it is almost impossible to identify

where that adulteration has taken place.

We wanted to find out why anyone would want to fake almond

powder by using ground peanuts.

So we visited award-winning chef Cyrus Todiwala

at his Indian restaurant.

I am not surprised that almond powder will get adulterated

because almond powder is expensive.

As you know, almonds are expensive compared to other certain

cheaper nuts, maybe peanuts, for example.

A very good quality almond powder could be up to £20 a kilo.

And a cheap almond powder could be between seven, eight,

nine, ten pounds a kilo.

If you asked for cheaper quality almond powder

from a manufacturer, he could put peanuts inside,

for example, he could put something else inside, for example.

And you would never know what is inside.

And that could be hazardous.

Cyrus thinks the pressure on small businesses to

maximise their profits has led to some unscrupulous traders

using cheaper peanuts to bulk up more expensive almond powder.

If the public keep demanding cheap, cheap,

cheap all the time, people who open restaurants are there to make

some money, create a livelihood.

And if we keep pushing the price down, pushing them

on pressure to reduce the price,

they're forced to buy poor quality, cheaper quality raw materials.

And cheaper quality raw materials are not necessarily

the best for your health.

The owner of the restaurant may not necessarily know,

and they could quite innocently be cooking with that product

and giving the person who can actually suffer from an anaphylactic

shock, for instance, a product that he never should have had.

It is enough to make any restaurateur stop and think.

Knowing what he does about the dangers faced by diners with

peanut allergies,

Cyrus pays forensic attention to what is inside his almond powder.

It is very, very essential that you buy something that you

are sure of the history of it, where it originated,

where it was produced.

And we always demand that everything is supported by a lab test report

or a report from the manufacturer on allergens.

The certificate that comes with Cyrus's almond powder is

issued by a lab that is used by the wholesaler to test

the contents of raw ingredients.

This test is an assurance that customers with peanut allergies

can eat the almond powder in their meals without ending up in hospital.

The peanut is there, that it has

"no peanuts and products thereof".

So all of these put together give you a completely

clear message that this product is what you want to use.

Corinne Lowe from the Trading Standards Institute believes

that somewhere out there right now, either deliberately or

otherwise, restaurants could be using ground peanuts

instead of ground almonds in their meals.

Trading Standards are testing meals and finding, unfortunately,

in some cases, up to 40% of those meals can contain peanut

when they have been described as peanut-free.

Not only is it a criminal offence to misdescribe food,

you are also risking people's lives by bulking out

almond powder with peanut.

Trading Standards across the country continue to investigate

cases of suspected fake almond powder.

Earlier, we saw how David and Marlene Jackson, from East Sussex,

lost over £3,000 trying to book their dream holiday through

a company with a fake ATOL membership.

Up till literally two days before we were due to go,

we were being told there was still a possibility we'd go.

But Russian Gateway isn't the only travel company out there

faking its ATOL logos and putting holiday-makers at risk.

Today, Mohammed Tariq from Birmingham Trading Standards,

is travelling down south to join forces with Trading Standards

from a London borough.

They received information that suspect travel businesses are using

fake ATOL logos to dupe British Muslims planning their hajj trips.

Hajj is a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.

As we're coming up to the hajj season in a couple of weeks' time,

so you're going to get a lot of travel agents just popping up,

trying to make a quick buck.

Reputable travel companies pay a large fee, meet financial tests

and put up a bond to be part of the ATOL scheme

and have permission to display the logo.

But some dodgy operators don't want to pay to be a member, meaning they

are selling unprotected holidays to unsuspecting holiday-makers.

Trading Standards are duty-bound to stop them.

They have arrived at the first suspect travel business.

Is the owner about, please?

Is anybody else in the premises?

The man doesn't seem to be involved,

so the officers head to the back of the shop to find the owner.

Are you the owner or the manager?

No, he is.

-He is, outside?

-Yeah, yeah.

-He told me you were.

-No.

-What, the gentleman that is sitting there? He is the owner?

The one that was sitting here?

Looks like the man they spoke to earlier was involved.

-He's run off.

-Has he run off?

And he is clearly in the mood for a bit of exercise.

-He's running, running, running.

-Oh, yeah, I can see him, yeah.

Obviously, he has got something to hide and he has just run off.

The officers will try to catch up with him on another day.

But for now, it is time to take a look at why he might have run off.

Tariq doesn't have to go inside the shop to find some

potentially incriminating evidence.

The ATOL logo you can see there is fake, basically,

because they are not licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority.

If you haven't got a licence with the Civil Aviation Authority,

you are not permitted to sell any packages.

Inside, the officers manage to get one of the owners on the phone.

Obviously, you've got a fake ATOL logo out there.

You are giving the indication to members of the public

that you are ATOL protected.

You are not ATOL protected, so why have you put the sign up there?

Tariq knows the fake ATOL logos displayed by this business

could spell bad news for prospective travellers.

Rogue traders don't want to pay for that licence and

they are bypassing that by claiming to be falsely ATOL protected.

It's not cheap going on hajj or umra,

we're talking about £4,000, £5,000 a package.

Now, often pilgrims will save this. This is a life savings.

And what will happen if the company goes bust

or the trader goes down,

the consumer is not protected.

Tariq will be making further inquiries about this company, but

there are others out there, duping consumers with fake ATOL logos.

So the officers head to another suspect business around the corner.

Tariq explains to the owner why they are there.

We have carried out some checks in relation to your premises.

So what we are looking at is traders passing off themselves

as being ATOL licensed, and they are not.

As the search gets under way, Tariq immediately finds

a suspect advertisement that could dupe unsuspecting holiday-makers.

Look how sophisticated that looks.

Anyone looking at that will think they are dealing with a proper,

legitimate company who is ATOL protected.

But there are other fake ATOL logos at this business -

dozens in the customer waiting area.

You got documentation down yet,

that has got the ATOL logo there as well. That is fake.

And outside the shop, it is the same story.

If I can just show you... When a customer is coming in,

it says it is ATOL protected there.

That is misleading because you are not associated with ATOL.

The owner's records leave a lot to be desired and there is real

concern about what he has been doing with his customers' money.

Money has been taken off consumers

and then what this gentleman does is put some money into his account,

which is totally against the CAA regulations.

The money should go straight into an ATOL protected account,

ATOL holder account, so the money is protected then.

Obviously, he goes into his account, then...

Where is the money being protected?

The officers have enough evidence to caution and question the man.

It is a criminal offence to say ATOL protected

when you are not ATOL protected.

You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you

do not mention in questioning

something that you later rely on in court.

What we are going to do is we are going to seize any documentation -

leaflets, banners - that are displaying this fake logo, yeah?

This company is about to lose all its glossy advertising.

It is fake and it is also evidence, so it has got to be seized.

This is a result for Birmingham Trading Standards with

companies under investigation for using fake ATOL logos that

could leave holiday-makers unprotected.

Remember, if you are about to book a holiday, you can check

if your travel provider is genuinely ATOL protected

by logging onto the Civil Aviation Authority's website.

This is a Light Emitting Diode, or LED bulb.

It is new lighting technology that gives out more

light for the amount of power it consumes than conventional bulbs.

It is also supposed to last longer and be safer

because it is cool to the touch.

This LED bulb does all that.

But this one doesn't.

It has a fake safety mark on it and it is on sale online now.

As we're about to find out,

plug this or any of these fake LED bulbs in

and you might get more than you bargained for.

Retired electronics engineer Derek Hawthorne from Hampshire

wanted to update the lighting in his house.

In a light-bulb moment, he decided to replace the old light

bulbs on his cooker with new LED bulbs.

I thought it was just a matter of picking the right

size of lamp from an auction website, making sure that the wattage

was about right and plug it in and forget about it.

Derek went ahead and ordered his LED bulbs on the internet.

The package arrived, the lamps looked to be of reasonable quality

and I thought, "This is plug and play, fit and forget."

So Derek did fit and forget about his new LED bulb, that is

until a few days later.

I moved my hand first of all just underneath,

and I could feel quite a lot of heat coming out.

And then I moved my hand up and across the underneath of the cooker

hood and received an electric shock.

The jolt left Derek shaken, but luckily, nothing more than that.

As an electronic engineer, Derek knows a thing or two about wiring.

As far as he was concerned,

getting an electric shock from an LED bulb could mean only one thing.

If I buy a lamp from a certified manufacturer,

I don't expect to get any kind of an electric shock, because a lamp

or a bulb should be completely insulated

from the electricity supply.

A product purported to have met standards but in fact was

probably a fake because it didn't meet those standards.

If an LED bulb but with a CE mark gives you an electric shock,

then the CE mark itself is probably fake.

Concerned that they were dangerous, Derek got rid of his fake LED bulbs,

so we brought him one that was almost identical to those he fitted.

There are exposed connections

here, here - and either side of every single LED

is an exposed connection.

There is no protection on the front of the lamp to stop

you from touching any of these parts and receiving an electric shock.

Derek had brushed against the top of a lamp similar to this one.

He thinks he had a lucky escape,

as the electric shock he received wasn't very powerful.

But not everybody could be as fortunate.

What would happen if my wife was cleaning underneath the cooker

hood and she used a damp cloth?

She would get a much more severe shock.

If a component in the lamp were to fail,

then the consequences could have been death.

Derek also found himself thinking of the consequences of someone

using a fake LED bulb like this one outdoors.

That would have been potentially tragic because they would have

suffered a lethal shock in the event that the lamp had got wet.

They are potentially hazardous and a risk to life.

And it is very difficult for people to know

whether they've got a product that is a fake or not.

The fake LED bulb that we showed Derek was bought online.

Disturbingly, it is just one of thousands of fake LED bulbs

out there.

Since the European Union ban on older-style filament bulbs

was phased in, demand for LED lamps has rapidly increased,

as has the production of the fakes.

Suffolk Trading Standards sees this pile of fake LED bulbs

on their way from China into the UK through the port of Felixstowe.

Many are almost identical to the one that gave

Derek Hawthorne his nasty shock.

Over here, we've got nearly 1,000 LED bulbs,

which are just part of a larger consignment.

The problem with these is that they've got fake CE marks.

By that, I mean it is either been misapplied or, in this instance,

the CE mark itself doesn't actually meet the criteria which it should.

It's a fake.

With their fake CE markings, these LED bulbs could be dangerous.

But we wanted to find out just how dangerous the fakes can be.

So we went to leading test house Intertek to meet electrical

safety expert Steve Curtler.

How can you tell the difference between a genuine

and a fake LED bulb?

We can see on the genuine, there is a cover over the LED lamp

and the LED array itself and any connections, which means

I can't put my finger on to anything that might have dangerous voltages.

Steve ordered an LED bulb on the internet,

identical to the one that shocked Derek Hawthorne.

At first glance, he is concerned.

You can actually unscrew the lamp itself

and get access to live parts, hazardous parts.

No lamp should be able to be taken apart purely by unscrewing it.

Easy access to dangerous wiring can mean only one thing for the CE

and other safety markings on this bulb.

We've got a problem here at that has the potential to kill somebody.

And there is no way that genuine manufacturers would produce...

manufacture anything that could come apart as easy as that.

There is no doubt that the safety marks that have been applied

onto this lamp are indeed false, fake.

With the testing, Steve hopes to put his finger on the problem.

Well, not his finger exactly.

We are going to be using a laboratory test finger to simulate

someone actually touching the outside of the lamp.

The artificial finger will be connected to a lamp that

represents the human body.

If that is to light up, then we know that there is a voltage

and a current there.

And then we want to see how dangerous that voltage and current is.

First, Steve will test a genuine LED lamp.

OK then, Mike, when you are ready.

So, we're touching the lamp wherever we can with the test finger.

The lamp is not coming on. We are not getting any dangerous voltages.

We get no voltage at all, in fact.

The genuine LED lamp has passed the test with flying colours.

Now, what about the LED lamp that Steve bought from an online store?

To pass the safety test,

the voltage on the surface of this LED bulb,

which someone could feasibly touch, must not exceed 60 volts

and the current - two milliamps.

It is an immediate result for the fake LED bulb.

We have got way over the 60 volt limit. 178 volts.

It has failed spectacularly.

This isn't just slightly over the voltage limit,

this is way over, about three times the amount.

So that is extremely hazardous.

And the same for the current, 91 milliamps.

So that is extremely dangerous.

You could easily get a fatal electric shock from this scenario.

Steve has all the information he needs to pass final judgment

on this fake.

Clearly, the bulb has never been tested before.

It is marked up with all the safety marks to say that it has been.

So those marks are fake, the lamp is fake. It is seriously dangerous.

And potentially life-threatening.

Anyone fitting a fake LED lamp like this in their house could be

lucky only to walk away with a minor electric shock.

But Steve is not finished.

There is another suspected fake lamp he'd like to test,

and it is a big one.

This could be fitted in a shop, school or other public area.

They run the test, and Steve is astonished by the results.

We have got voltage of 203 volts, which is ridiculous.

Extremely hazardous voltage there.

That is nearly four times the limit.

97 milliamps - a fatal electric shock waiting to happen

if you were to touch that when it was in the lamp fitting itself,

so unfortunately, another fake.

The fake LED lamps that Steve tested today could kill.

Some of them, like this one,

have come from the shipment seized by Suffolk Trading Standards.

After these and other tests, Suffolk Trading Standards

are taking drastic action to ensure the fake LED bulbs

they seized will never be able to harm anyone.

So these fake LED bulbs are going to be destroyed.

The reason why we do destroy these things is because they are unsafe.

It is a dangerous product and can't be allowed for sale within the EU.

As we have seen on Fake Britain, fake versions of everyday

items we all buy are pouring into the country every day.

Take a look at these evidence bags -

sunglasses, cigarette lighters, and loom bands.

We've also got much, much more.

We've been out with Trading Standards and the police to see

how much fakery can be found in one shop on one high street.

It could be a high street near you.

It is early morning somewhere in London.

Trading Standards officer David Hunt is leading a major

crackdown on potentially dangerous counterfeit goods

suspected of being sold from a high street shop.

Trading Standards will lead the operation into the premises,

accompanied with the police.

Introduce ourselves, explain what is happening.

11 brand representatives from leading companies who

think their products are being faked are joining forces with Trading

Standards and the police in a major antique counterfeiting operation.

All right, this is the premises, here on our left-hand side,

we're coming to visit.

Good morning.

David is straight into the shop for a chat with the shop assistant.

We are going to carry out an inspection on the shop here today.

I have a number of brand holders with me, OK?

We are going to look around the shop.

Anything we find that is fake, so that has got trademarks or

copyright applied or anything that is unsafe, we will seize.

The shop is on the corner of a busy main road,

so the police have to cordon it off.

One of the shop assistants isn't terribly happy

that our film crew is there.

Can you not film me?

It might be because of what David has just spotted,

brazenly on display in broad daylight.

What we have here is a display of sunglasses.

A significant number of them have got Ray-Ban's trademark on them.

When we see fake sunglasses, we do seize them.

Inside the shop, David finds even more shoddy shades,

complete with fake ultraviolet protection labelling.

They have the label on them to say they have been tested for protection.

The fake ones haven't had the testing done and if people wear them,

they risk damaging their eyes.

People buy them thinking they're going to

protect their eyes from bright sunshine, and they don't.

These fake sunglasses aren't the only potentially dangerous

fake goods that David is on the hunt for today.

It is not long before he spots something else.

These lighters are manufactured to be copies of the Zippo type lighters,

with brands on them.

When you pull the inside out, they're not always tight.

They are quite loose.

And there is a chance that if it is filled with lighter fluid,

that could actually come out around the top of the device

when you ignite it.

If the fluid is there, around the side, that will ignite.

And this could cause serious burns to the hand of the user.

And there are more fake lighters inside.

These lighters are actually copies of Clippers.

Not only are they counterfeit, but they are very unsafe.

They may explode on the person. Or if you drop them, they break easily.

The gas will escape, with the risk of explosion.

By now, the officers have established that this shop is

selling potentially dangerous goods.

But they are about to come across something out of the ordinary.

There are 225 packets of substances known as legal highs.

And unfortunately, people do consume them.

And they cause serious illness and possibly psychosis.

We don't know what effect these have on the human body and we don't

know the long-term effects and if any permanent damage could be caused.

While searching through a bag of legal highs,

the officers have discovered another potentially harmful drug.

Found four packets of what appear to be Viagra tablets.

They could be more fake goods and it raises a more serious

issue of fake tablets being sold on the high street.

These will have to go to the police to be tested and checked.

It is over to the police to question the men

working in the shop about the drugs that have been discovered.

This is not legal. This is what we believe to be Viagra.

Well, I usually don't sell these ones, so...

-But it is behind the counter.

-Yeah.

And you have said today that you are in control of the store.

Yeah, in control, but usually when the boss is around here,

I run the small shop.

So far, it is a successful operation -

potentially dangerous fake lighters and sunglasses, legal highs

and Viagra, all being sold out of this high street shop,

and all of which will be seized.

As well as selling dangerous fake goods,

the shop is brimful of something we have seen many

times on Fake Britain - a bewildering array of fake fashion.

As the officers bag and tag the fake clothing out on display,

David is curious about what might be in the basement.

Section 28 of the Trade Descriptions Act gives me

the power to enter anywhere on premises that are open for business.

Your basement,

I have power to enter as it is part of the business premises.

But David is not going to be able to see what lies beneath

without a fight.

Excuse me, Mr Police Officer, he is not going to allow me

to go in the basement.

He has got legal power to go in the basement, all right?

So he is allowed down in the basement.

Finally, David gains access to the basement and it is immediately

clear why the shop assistant didn't want to let him down there.

There is a large amount of goods stored here.

We have Yves Saint Laurent, Arctic Monkeys, Chicago Bulls.

We have Chanel,

Obey.

Adidas here.

Hidden below the shop are thousands of pounds worth of fake clothing.

There is a large quantity of goods

here that is all going to need to be looked at...

..and inspected by the brand holders to see what we have here.

He didn't want to actually give me access to the basement,

and now I can see why he didn't want to do that.

Along with the fake clothes upstairs,

this subterranean hall will be bagged, tagged, and taken away.

David feels lucky to have ever found it.

This wall here was covered in T-shirts.

And it was so you couldn't actually see the door, but the door is here.

You gain access to a basement area.

With the fake clothing taken care of,

David is still on the hunt for potentially dangerous fakes.

And he has found some more.

This time, worryingly, in the form of children's bracelets.

With the loom bands, what we have is we have requirements in the toy

safety legislation that they should have certain markings on them.

These loom bands do have the safety markings,

but looks can be deceiving.

And on this one, it has got an EN71 number, which is

the British standard for child safety,

but that British standard number wouldn't be made up like that.

That marking is definitely fake, so they will be seized

because we cannot be sure that they are a safe product.

They might look harmless enough, but David knows how dangerous

these children's bracelets could be for anyone who ends up wearing them.

Because they have not been tested for chemicals such as phthalates,

which are banned in Europe.

They could contain phthalates, which have got a risk of cancer

and are banned from all products for children.

There are dozens of packs of the loom bands for sale in this

high street store, but these looms are doomed.

For Graham Mogg, of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, it is

important that decisive action is taken to make sure these products

are off the street for good.

It gives a clear message to retailers that sell

counterfeit products that it won't be tolerated.

From a brand's perspective, it shows that we will work...

Private and public sectors working together is the way forward to try

and tackle the problem. So it's a fantastic result.

That is all from Fake Britain. Goodbye.