Slough Borough Council’s trading standards team continue to protect consumer safety with the prosecutions of two Slough retailers in possession of 70 counterfeit bottles of vodka.
Bottle of vodka.On December 19, Pal Singh Arora of Metro Food and Wine, 193 Farnham Road, Slough, pleaded guilty to four offences under the Trade Marks Act and Trade Descriptions Act.
He was fined £1,215 (a £600 penalty with £615 costs) for offences relating to 12 bottles of Glen’s Vodka and 10 bottles of Kirov Vodka.
At a separate court hearing for the same offence, Asif Ali Khan of Victoria Food and Wine, 285-287 High Street, Slough had 48 bottles of counterfeit vodka in his store ready to be sold to the public.
He pleaded guilty to two offences and was fined a total of £1,415 (a £700 penalty with £715 costs).
In November and December of 2007, trading standards officers made a series of visits to off-licences in the borough after receiving information that shops were selling counterfeit vodka. At each visit, the illegal alcohol was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.
Bottles of counterfeit alcohol, particularly Glen’s vodka, have been in circulation across the country throughout 2008.
However, trading standards have noted Slough as one of a number of hotspots and are cracking down on retailers selling the illegal and potentially dangerous drink.
Peter Adshead, trading standards officer for Slough Borough Council, said: “It’s worrying still finding bottles of this vodka on the shelves in spite of the national publicity.
“Retailers have a responsibility to check their shelves and remove any bottles if in doubt.
“The favourite method of obtaining illegal alcohol is to purchase from a white van man who sells direct to the retailer and does not provide an invoice.
“If we find suspicious bottles during an inspection, the retailer must be able to provide details of where the vodka was purchased, as without this they could face a prosecution.”
Jaspal Singh, trading standards officer for Slough Borough Council, said: “Stock should only be bought from legitimate retailers, as there’s no quality control on illegal products and some counterfeit vodka has been found to contain excessive amounts of methanol, which can cause blindness.
“After analysing the vodka, we can confirm that none of the products seized contained excess methanol.”
Councillor Shafiq Chaudhry, commissioner for community and leisure, said: “I urge retailers to heed the warning from trading standards and check their shelves.
"Our officers want to educate retailers of what to look for in counterfeit products and it’s important they take their responsibilities seriously."
For further advice, please contact trading standards on 08454 040506.
Slough Borough Council
