Episode 8 Fake Britain

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

Welcome to Fake Britain.

Police!

-Get down! Get down!

-Down on the floor! Down!

Put your hands behind your back now.

Here at the Fake Britain house,

we'll reveal the fakes that are flooding the market,

conning people like you and me and making money for the criminals.

We'll investigate the fraudsters who are selling us something

that isn't real and could be dangerous.

And we'll help you avoid falling for a fake.

Today on Fake Britain,

the dangerous ladders that could lead to disaster.

I could have broke my ankle,

and I am self-employed - that would have been my livelihood.

The fluffy hot water bottles that could kill your child.

All that separates the child using this from mains electricity

is this thin piece of plastic.

The experts using technology to catch the identity fakers.

His image has been placed onto this counterfeit visa

in order for him to gain status.

And the fake wood-burning stove installers putting lives at risk.

We expected to have a fully-functioning wood burner

and instead, our home was filling with smoke.

It is very useful, but it is also potentially very dangerous.

Yes, it is a ladder.

We would all expect that any ladder we buy would be safe.

Every ladder sold here in the UK has to meet basic safety standards.

Unfortunately, Fake Britain has found that is not true.

Knowing that when you're standing up here, not a great feeling.

It is reckoned there are two million ladders in use across the country.

You can buy one from a whole range of places,

from online sellers to major supermarkets.

But last year, ladders were the cause of over 50,000 visits to A&E.

Little wonder that they need to meet stringent product standards

before being sold to the general public.

All ladders manufactured and supplied within Britain and the EU

should be manufactured to specific standards and correctly classified.

But as Keith Dorman from Cambridgeshire discovered,

not every ladder's safety claims can be trusted.

Keith had decided to buy a ladder,

so he went online and quickly found one that he thought could do the job.

The product clearly stated it could hold 150kg,

or around 23st.

The weight stated on the details of the item,

I automatically thought that would take my weight.

But the ladder wasn't all that it appeared to be.

The first time I used it, I took it into the kitchen to hang a curtain

and as I put my foot on the bottom step,

put some weight on, the step folded around my foot.

And I stepped back in shock that it had broke.

Keith feels as though he had a lucky escape.

I could have broke my ankle.

And I am self-employed - that would have been my livelihood.

So, to me personally, it could have been...

terrible.

Fake Britain has discovered that Keith is not the only victim

of potentially dangerous ladders out there.

Online, there are dozens of reports of ladders buckling or breaking,

sometimes on their very first outing.

And so, the authorities have decided to investigate

whether some retailers

are selling ladders that carry fake claims

about their strength and safety.

Acting on a tip-off, Ian Millward from Derbyshire Trading Standards

decided to test the market for fake ladders.

We went out looking for examples of these.

Some of these were only available online,

some were available through high-street stores.

All of the ladders that Trading Standards test-purchased

displayed various safety markings,

including claims to meet specific ladder safety requirements.

Ian Millward wanted to see if the safety claims were genuine,

so he sent the ladders for independent testing.

The telescopic ladder tested by Trading Standards extends to 3.75m

and is a type of ladder used by many professional tradesmen.

And in this case, when it was tested,

two of the lock-in pins have actually seized in place.

The safety claims on this ladder were fake

and this fault could have resulted in

fingers being trapped between rungs.

All four of the retailers that sold these ladders,

including a supermarket chain, were given a caution by Trading Standards

and all of these products have been removed from sale.

Fake Britain decided to investigate if other potentially dangerous

ladders with fake safety markings might be on sale.

Following a tip-off from an industry insider,

we purchased a telescopic ladder from a Cardiff branch

of cash-and-carry Makro UK, now part of the Booker Group.

The ladder was of a similar type to the telescopic one

previously bought and tested by Trading Standards,

and claimed to have been tested

by the safety certification company SGS.

We sent the ladder to be tested

at the British Standards Institution, BSI.

Mark Mayo is BSI's ladder expert.

We're testing this ladder to the requirements of EN 131,

because that's what it is claiming compliance with.

Mark will test the ladder for torsion,

which is the degree to which it twists when subjected to pressure.

By law, this ladder should be able to twist no more than 18 degrees,

meaning it won't topple over if the person on it

shifts their weight to the left or right.

Initial reading is 25.9, which is way over the 18 that is allowed,

and it is rising as the twist continues in the ladder.

The readings are still going up.

It is a definite failure to EN 131.

As we saw from the packaging and the ladder itself,

they are claiming to meet the requirements of EN 131.

That is fake.

It doesn't meet that requirement, as we can quite clearly see,

and the ladder is not fit for purpose.

It is a big fail for the ladder.

It carries fake safety labelling and it could be dangerous.

We contacted Blackspur, part of Hamble Distribution,

who supplied Makro with the ladder that we bought.

Blackspur sent us this SGS certificate and report

for the ladder, which we sent to SGS for inspection.

SGS revealed that the certificate and report had been faked,

telling us some of the results have been altered.

The test results that had been faked related to torsion.

Blackspur told us that they had been cheated

and that the genuine report had been altered without their knowledge.

We contacted Booker Group plc, who own Makro, and they said...

A passport is probably the most sophisticated and complex document

we will ever hold.

It is made under high security conditions and it is designed

to protect you, your identity and the security of the country.

ID documents are the most forged in the world

and telling the real from the fake can be extremely challenging.

We followed the work of the National Document Fraud Unit

as they took on a case of suspicious IDs.

Around 200 million people enter and leave Britain every year.

Border Force teams stationed at entry points across the UK

are responsible for making sure everyone

coming into or leaving the country is who they claim to be.

But the use of fake ID documents is on the rise.

Last year, Home Office enforcement teams arrested

over 10,000 people attempting to use fake documents at the border.

When authorities need to detect whether an identification is fake,

they contact the National Document Fraud Unit.

The team there are uniquely equipped to uncover identity fakery.

Henry Bara is in charge of thousands of these genuine ID documents

from all over the world.

We have documents, passports, identity cards, driving licences.

For instance, here - Sierra Leonean passports.

Somalia. Soviet Union.

South Sudan.

Driving licences.

Kazakhstan. Greece.

The United States.

In total, there are nearly 100,000 of these legitimate ID documents

in the archive.

Sometimes the best way to spot a fake document

is by looking at the real thing.

We use these as comparison documents, so if a document

is referred to is for an opinion as to their authenticity,

we will hopefully have a document of that same series.

When Home Office enforcement officers suspect

that they've found a fake, they get in touch with the experts.

And today, these suspected fake documents have just arrived.

They've been sent by the police and were being used by three men

who were detained at the Eurostar terminal at King's Cross St Pancras.

Customs officials thought the documents looked suspicious

and the police are holding the men while the documents are assessed.

On initial inspection, Nadia Bremner, an analyst,

doesn't like the look of these visas.

I'm looking at the background print on the visa.

I'm looking to see if it's been printed correctly

and looking for fine lines of solid colour.

Here it kind of breaks down into random coloured dots

and that's not what you want to see.

Now I'm going to compare the background print in this visa

to a genuine document

and just have a look at the differences between the two.

You can see that with the genuine document,

you've got lots of crisp, clear print,

fine lines of solid colour, nice, legible extra-small print,

and if you can compare that to the suspect document,

where you've got lots of dots

and it is just a really overall poor quality.

Nadia examines every detail on the visa.

I'm looking at the background print to see how that interacts

with the holographic feature, because the background print

should run over the top of the holographic device.

This entire visa appears to me to be counterfeit

and his image has been placed onto this counterfeit visa

in order for him to gain status in Italy.

So, the visas are fake.

But what about the UK residency documents

two of the men were found with?

So, this residence permit grants him access to the UK as a student,

so he can live and remain in the UK as long as he's a student,

but he can only work 20 hours per week maximum.

On first glance with this one, it doesn't look too brilliant,

to be honest. There's a white border along the edge here,

the left and right-hand side edges, which there shouldn't be,

so I'd like to have a proper look at that under magnification.

I'm particularly interested in where the colours merge together,

so where you've got pink that should merge nicely into blue.

I'm going to have a quick look at that with a genuine document

and see how that is in a genuine specimen.

So, this is a genuine specimen that I'm looking at now

on the left-hand side of the screen.

And under magnification, as with the visas,

we're looking for crisp, nice quality print.

This one's got extra-small print running along under here.

You can see it is quite legible - GBR and EU.

Lots of extra-small print, lots of nice quality colours

and the blue and pink merge together quite nicely.

Fake IDs are designed to fool the naked eye,

but not a powerful microscope.

Again, at this stage, just by looking at it with magnification,

you can see that the one on the right is a fake residence permit.

The three men found holding these fake documents pleaded guilty

and were sentenced to four months in prison for possession

of controlled identity documents with intent to use.

They're currently awaiting deportation.

Henry Bara thinks the problem is getting worse.

I think a lot of organised criminal gangs seem to be

diverting into this area

of producing and distributing false documents

simply because the penalties for getting caught seem to be a lot less

than, for instance, more traditional careers such as drugs smuggling.

And the fakers' ability to produce convincing fakes

is improving dramatically.

We have seen some frighteningly, frighteningly high quality

false documents recently.

One particular case comes to mind of somebody that

applied for asylum in 47 different identities.

That would then mean the benefits to which they would be entitled

would be granted at each of those identities.

The unit has examined over 30,000 suspected fake ID documents

over the past five years,

providing key evidence in numerous criminal cases.

We would like to think that we are a thorn in the side of forgers

and organised criminal gangs. We certainly do our best.

We won't pretend we are on top of the problem.

It seems to be a burgeoning industry.

It's clearly very lucrative.

The battle goes on.

We spend more per head on toys than anywhere else in Europe.

The industry is huge and worth billions.

What that means is that there's vast choice for mums and dads

and, of course, children.

But you wouldn't want to choose any of these because they are all fake.

We have found that fakes like these are openly on sale throughout

the UK, and despite every toy in this country being subject to

strict regulations, some are among the most dangerous objects

children will ever come into contact with.

The vast majority of fake toys coming into the UK

arrive through our ports.

Border Force officers recently discovered a haul of products

aimed at children that looked fluffy enough on the outside,

but were in fact hiding a dark secret.

They called on Mark Rolfe from Kent Trading Standards.

They're a fairly simple device.

Cuddly toy on top, underneath there is a hot water bottle,

which is separate from the cuddly dog.

You fill it up with water through here

and then you plug it into the mains.

The idea, obviously, is that it heats the water

and you've got yourself a toy hot water bottle.

The problem with these products is when you get inside to the

electrics. I mean, it doesn't make sense, if you think about it,

to plug a hot water bottle into the mains.

But if I cut this one open...

..what we have inside is a thin plastic water tank.

It has in it a tablet here which dissolves in the water

and it makes the water conduct electricity.

And then you have the electrics, which is this part here.

These two screws are just electrodes and the way this heats the water up

is to pass mains electricity through the water,

which has got this dissolved in it to make it conduct the electricity.

So actually, all that separates you as a user, or the child using this,

from mains electricity is this thin piece of plastic.

Mark was understandably concerned by the children's hot water bottle,

so he sent it for testing.

The findings would scare any parent.

One of the safety issues we have identified with this is that

the means of it cutting out if the water gets too hot is unreliable.

What that means is that the water could boil in the bag

and boiling water, obviously, turns to steam,

steam expands remarkably quickly, leading to the bag bursting.

And a child would be covered with boiling water

and then exposed to live electricity.

Really, from a child protection point of view, it couldn't be worse.

Despite the dangers inside,

this product is covered in safety markings, all of which are fake.

The people who've manufactured this potential deathtrap

have really gone to town to try and make sure that consumers

think it is a safe item.

They've put the CE mark everywhere.

It is there on the actual toy itself and they've actually applied it

to the packaging of the box here as well with all the other symbols

that you would expect to find on a quality item.

For Mark Rolfe, seeing a CE mark being faked

on such a potentially dangerous product

is particularly frustrating as it undermines a standard we all trust.

The reason for that is we tell people to rely on it,

we tell parents to rely on it when buying toys for their children,

and if people are faking it, actually that puts children at risk

with parents being as responsible as they can be.

An investigation into these dangerous soft toys is now underway

and Mark Rolfe has no doubts about the kind of criminal

pushing this product out to unsuspecting parents.

This is organised criminal gangs duping responsible parents

into believing their products are safe,

when they are, in fact, incredibly dangerous.

Wood-burning stoves have never been more popular

as lots of people try to make their homes cosy

and full of character.

But installing one isn't straightforward.

There are building regs there to protect us,

so you can't just have a go.

Like any heating appliance, they can be extremely dangerous

if not fitted properly. Many people choose a trained professional.

But what happens when your trained professional turns out to be...

a fake?

Over a million Brits now have a wood-burning stove in their home,

with around 200,000 people a year having one installed.

These stoves are relatively complex to put in

and safety experts recommend hiring a professional.

Most professional installers belong to

Heating Equipment Testing And Approval Scheme, known as HETAS.

It is a trade body that provides training and accreditation.

Bruce Allen is the MD at HETAS

and he has seen demand for the stoves soar.

The past ten years saw an unprecedented growth in stove use,

where stoves have come forward in design greatly.

To become a registered HETAS installer,

you need to undertake several days of training and then

demonstrate to a HETAS inspector that you can safely install a stove.

These checks will cost £500-£800, but recently, HETAS have had reports

of a number of installers faking their credentials.

One of the problems we find is that these guys

really don't want to put the time, the effort and the money

into doing the job properly, so they're not doing the real courses,

they're faking their knowledge and they're trying to sort of

circumvent the costs of trading and the cost of joining a scheme.

What's happening is they really operate in the black market,

so it is about avoiding all of the rules and regulations for them,

it's about reducing their costs and maximising their income

without actually doing the job properly.

Basically, it's a way of ripping off customers.

CHILD CHATTERS

In Caerphilly, Wales, Lisa Watkins was looking for a registered

installer to fit a wood-burning stove.

But fake HETAS installers are operating across the country,

as she was about to find out.

We were trying to create a family home.

We'd had our daughter, she was around 18 months old.

We decided that we would like to put a second wood burner in the house

and we were looking around for recommendations

and Luke was recommended to us.

The installer, Luke Hathaway, arrived and offered Lisa a quote.

He told her he was both HETAS registered and trained.

While it was true that Hathaway had started a HETAS training course,

he had failed to complete it.

The job took longer than Luke had promised,

but eventually Lisa's stove was ready to light.

He left us with a small bunch of kindling and told us that

it was ready to light within a sort of hour after he'd left,

just to make sure that all the fire cement had dried.

After about two minutes, the room just filled with smoke.

Smoke was coming out of all of the vents of the wood burner

and I had to pick my 18-month-old daughter and run out of the house.

Lisa was understandably terrified.

I was just really, really frightened at the time.

I didn't really know what was going on.

We expected to have a fully-functioning wood burner

and instead our home was filling with smoke.

I think there were flames coming out of the back at one point.

I mean, I didn't know if the house was going to catch fire.

I was just really frightened for my daughter and my partner.

Fortunately, Lisa's partner reacted quickly, putting the fire out.

But the situation could have been much worse.

Luckily, it was only a small amount of kindling.

If we'd have, you know, shut the door, put a log on it

and left it, then the whole house could have caught.

Lisa contacted HETAS, but they were powerless to act.

At this point, we couldn't remove Luke from a register

that he wasn't already on,

so we advised the consumers, along with ourselves,

to pursue the matter through Trading Standards.

Tim Keohane heads up the Caerphilly Trading Standards team

and over the next few months, he discovered Hathaway had installed

a total of five stoves all around the Caerphilly area.

Investigations revealed that Hathaway was actually

not only fitting the stoves poorly, but they weren't safe.

And also, he was holding himself up to be HETAS accredited.

And in fact, using fake documentation to prove that fact.

Tim Keohane's team spoke with other customers and discovered Hathaway

had been issuing invoices which stated he was HETAS registered.

He had even got hold of an actual HETAS certificate,

which prove your stove has been fitted by a genuine HETAS installer.

The installer takes a copy, one is sent to HETAS

and one is held by the customer.

Faking these is a criminal offence.

What we have here are three copies of the fake HETAS certificates

issued by Hathaway.

But of course, all the details about him are fake.

Eventually, Trading Standards had enough evidence

against Hathaway to stop him in his tracks.

We eventually got Hathaway to court.

He pleaded guilty to 12 offences

under the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations.

I think the evidence was so strong because of the witnesses

who were involved, along with the fact we managed to get an expert

to examine one of the installations and state that it was dangerous.

The HETAS inspection was carried out at Lisa's property

and the stove Hathaway installed was classed as immediately dangerous.

While Lisa and her family are safe,

the cost of Hathaway's fakery has been substantial.

This image is of the chimney liner,

which should come all the way down the chimney,

but in actual fact, because it was too short,

Luke actually used 12 separate connectors

to connect the chimney liner to the actual wood-burning stove.

They were just held together with fire cement.

The damage to the house as a whole ran to around £2,000.

There was damage to wallpaper, there was damage to my carpets.

Our living room resembled a building site.

We were left with lots of rubble.

Our living room was just completely ruined.

Hathaway also failed to install a carbon monoxide detector

at any of the homes Trading Standards investigated.

Installing these devices is essential

if the stove is to pass British building regulations.

I think he was really, really irresponsible and dangerous.

I mean, something as simple as a carbon monoxide detector

could have saved our life.

I mean, it just dreads to me to think what would have happened

had we lit it and gone to bed.

Unfortunately, cases like this aren't isolated incidents.

HETAS have had reports of nearly a dozen fake installers

operating across the country

and they have started to track them down.

Mike and Alan are part of HETAS's inspection team.

They've had a tip-off from a builder

of a potentially dangerous stove installation.

What we know at this point is that somebody has gone in,

they've carried out the installation and there are

a lot of things relating to the installation that have

raised concerns of the third party that is working in the property.

Mike has checked the installer's name against HETAS's database

and it is not registered. To make matters worse,

this unregistered installer has been presenting fake documentation.

OK, so it is clearly evident that the HETAS logo has been

faked onto this document in a clear attempt to, basically,

lead the consumer to believe that the installation has been

carried out by a HETAS registered installer.

The installer's documentation might be fake,

but is the stove he has installed dangerous?

The couple living here, who don't wish to be identified,

paid several hundred pounds for a professionally-installed stove.

The team will be using this specialist miniature camera

to take a look inside the flue,

the piping which runs all the way up to the chimney.

At the point where the flue's been attached to

the house's existing chimney,

the camera reveals a serious cause for concern.

That there is your expanding foam,

this is your flexible flue liner

and this is the system chimney that has been used to join the two

to terminate the building.

And this is what's been used as a sealant between the two,

which is totally against regulations and is a fire hazard.

This material should never be used in this way.

But the HETAS team also want to inspect the work

carried out in the attic.

As this system chimney goes through the fabric of the building,

it is up against the felt.

This is deemed as combustible material.

But you've also got a wooden baton that should have been trimmed back

a minimum of 50mm, and it's only just 40mm.

This fake installer's botched job could have had tragic consequences

for the couple living here.

The ultimate scenario would be

that there could have been a fire within the chimney.

It really is an accident waiting to happen, to be honest.

Mike explains the situation to the couple

and recommends some approved installers in their area.

He also advises them to contact Trading Standards.

An investigation has been launched into this fake installer

and is ongoing.

That's all from Fake Britain. Goodbye.