Millions of unsafe face masks and bottles fake hand sanitiser seized at Heathrow

Millions of unsafe face masks and thousands of bottles of counterfeit hand sanitiser have been seized at Heathrow after a surge in firms importing sub-standard products.

Trading standards officials have impounded 2.25 million masks that failed to comply with legal safety standards, while about 4.25m others were labelled with false claims or fake safety certificates.

And they have discovered 8,000 bottles that were branded Andrex and Comfort by counterfeiters trying to cash in on the coronavirus pandemic.

Border Force teams at the airport have spotted many of the consignments and referred them to London Trading Standards for checking.

The 4.25m masks were only cleared and released after the labels were changed as London Trading Standards operations director Stephen Knight said the organisation had to be pragmatic in letting the goods through.

Officials’ suspicions were raised over the hand sanitiser as they had identical packaging and labelling, except for the brand name, and the same batch code on the entire consignment.

Identical fake sanitiser products have been found on sale in Bexley by trading standards officers, officials said.

A further 4,500 hand sanitisers with false labelling were seized at the airport, according to LTS.

As well as stopping dodgy imports, trading standards are increasingly concerned about the sale of unsafe UK-made hand sanitisers that fail to meet safety standards.

Tower Hamlets trading standards have recently found UK-made hand sanitiser on sale online from a local shop that contains the banned substance Triclosan and Ealing Council’s trading standards team recently detained 454,500 face masks described as “anti-virus” where fake safety certification was supplied.

Ealing also seized 60,000 face masks that failed to have the necessary importers’ details, batch, declaration of conformity or test certificates available to demonstrate compliance.

The borough also seized 3,390 hand sanitisers, which lacked any legally required information regarding ingredients, batch, traceability, warnings or instructions.

Mr Knight said: “Trading standards teams at Heathrow Airport and around London play an important role in protecting consumers from unscrupulous businesses seeking to bypass EU and UK safety laws.

“There has been a surge in firms attempting to import sub-standard face masks, many with false labelling or faked safety certificates.

“Trading standards teams are being pragmatic in seeking to let these important goods through, once misleading labelling is removed, and the necessary safety compliance can be shown.

“However, we will continue to protect consumers from unsafe goods.”

PA Media contributed to this article

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