24 Oct 2025
Council staff swooped in to investigate after a tip-off from the St Albans Times about counterfeit goods again being sold at the Charter Market.
Back in May we highlighted how market stalls were selling poorly packaged, unlabelled toys at the inaugural St Albans Spring Festival.
The three stalls had been offering a range of products based on recognisable brands such as Hello Kitty, LOL Surprise, Spider-Man, Minecraft and Pokémon, as well as electronic barking dogs without any labels or boxes.
Yet on closer inspection the items did not feature any copyright information or CE marks on the packaging, were vague about the contents, and seemed lightweight and inferior to similar products purchased in High Street stores.
But when we highlighted our concerns to SADC, strategic director for community and place delivery Chris Traill suggested it was down to the public to report any concerns on the day.
“It would have been helpful if the claim was reported to our staff at the time so they could have viewed the products and talked to the stall holder. We had numerous people on duty and clearly visible.
“We are not convinced the goods in the photographs were necessarily counterfeit, but if this proves to be the case we will take appropriate action as it is a criminal offence to sell such products.”
As far as we are aware no action was taken following our initial story, so when similar items were spotted at Saturday’s Charter Market, we reported them immediately to SADC’s markets hotline.
This time round the goods being sold included mock Labubu figures, electronic vehicles, trading cards and plush toys.
The packaging was in Chinese and the trader admitted that many of the items were not official, claiming they were “handmade”.
In the wake of our complaint, SADC’s market team investigated, but only after they had originally inspected the stall without picking up on any issues.
Ms Traill said: “We launched an immediate investigation after receiving an allegation that counterfeit goods were for sale at Saturday’s Charter Market.
“Our markets manager inspected the stall in question on Saturday as soon as the allegation was made and spoke to the trader who agreed to withdraw some items that we were unsure about.
“The products were similar in appearance to well-known brands, although they did not seem to carry any of their logos or branding.
“We are taking advice from Hertfordshire Trading Standards, who are the experts in this area, to determine if the goods were complaint with the law and regulations such as the Trades Description Act.
“If the goods are deemed counterfeit or in breach of regulations, we will take appropriate action according to our published policies.
“All our traders sign up to a set of terms and conditions as well as a code of conduct that forbids the sale of counterfeit goods at our markets.
“It is very rare that we receive any complaints such as this, and we always deal with complaints swiftly and robustly.”
According to the Crimestoppers charity, counterfeit toys often contain toxic chemicals and are typically made from low quality materials, which can have loose parts or sharp edges. Counterfeit electronics are prone to overheating, catching fire, giving electric shocks and exploding.
Many such items seized by Trading Standards officers across the country have been found to contain banned chemicals known as phthalates which if ingested can affect the body’s hormone system and have been linked to certain types of cancer.
