24 May 2025
Market stalls selling poorly packaged, unlabelled toys at last Sunday’s St Albans Spring Festival have raised fears that they were dangerous counterfeit items which could pose a risk to children.
The three stalls were 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.
The English on the display boxes was obviously flawed and riddled with punctuation errors, with taglines including ‘The best welcome gifts for the children!’ ‘Many surprises let ’s play!’, and ‘Let ’s be friends!’ (their spacing).
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.
The stalls would have had to obtain approval from SADC’s markets team in advance of the event to trade, yet the council’s strategic director for community and place delivery Chris Traill suggested it was down to the public to report any concerns on the day.
She said: “Traders abide by a set of terms and conditions as well as a code of conduct and it is very rare that we receive any complaints.
“Your allegation that counterfeit goods were on sale at three stalls will be looked into by our markets team.
“It would have been helpful, though, 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.”
With thousands of people packing out St Peter’s Street on Sunday afternoon, tracking down anyone from the markets team was arguably akin to the old needle in a haystack idiom, nothwithstanding the fact that responsibility for what is sold at St Albans markets lies with SADC, not members of the public.
Herts Trading Standards are now investigating the allegations.
The Child Accident Prevention Trust says: “While toys sold by well-known stores are generally safe, toys, novelty items and dressing-up clothes you can buy from online marketplaces, markets or small discount stores may not be. Please take care and don’t assume that, just because you can buy something, it must be safe.”
For more information, visit https://capt.org.uk/toy-safety/
