Wolverhampton charity shop fined for selling dangerous tumble dryers

Harbans Lal, the owner of East and West Aid, a registered charity on Moor Street South, Blakenhall, has also been individually hit with a £200 fine and a further £2,622 costs.

Both the 54-year-old from Regent Road, Tettenhall and his shop admitted breaching consumer protection and unfair trading regulations when they appeared at the city's Magistrates Court.

City Council Trading Standards Officers found a variety of dangerous items for sale when they visited the shop but their safety advice was repeatedly ignored, the court heard.

There were cookers with missing panels, faulty plugs and a dented and dangerous microwave which had a door that did not close and was covered in bird droppings.

Officials also seized nine tumble dryers of a type which had caused house fires elsewhere but had not been modified in the way recommended to remove the risk.

The company insisted that in future it would carry out safety checks on items it was selling and keep accurate records.

But when officers carried out a random test on a fridge freezer listed as having passed a test they discovered its plug had exposed wires.

Lal and his employees were fully aware of their safety obligations, but chose to sell items which were dangerous and could have caused fires, the court was told.

District Judge Michael Wheeler, dubbed the evidence against the shop as 'damning' and accused it of knowingly making false claims of safety checks.

Councillor Steve Evans, Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for city environment, said after the case: "This company has flagrantly ignored laws which exist to keep people safe. They have sold dangerous items which could have caused fires and they made up the results of safety tests to make a quick buck.

"The sentence handed down by the court sends out a message to other rogue traders that such behaviour will be rightly punished."