Imported coils seized by Trading Standards
Page 13
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Trading Standards officers have seized 1,700 fraudulent air brake coils in Manchester following a tip-off from a Welshbased truck components firm.
The operation, which involved Trading Standards personnel from two regions, started in May 1997 after Mark Consterdine, marketing co-ordinator at Allen Industrial in Denbighshire, saw one of the coils on sale at a truck parts stockist in Scotland.
The coil bore the German DIN quality standard, but Consterdine noticed that the product had a matt finish and a waxy feel—original coils are glossy and indelibly printed. "It is the first time that I have seen them in the UK," he says. 'Our main job was to take them off the market. This is not an isolated case; there are many cases of these coils in the UK. We are struggling to stern the tide," He adds that most of the fraudulent items are made in Eastern Europe and Turkey.
Denbighshire Trading Standards officers teamed up with their opposite numbers in Trafford, Manchester. David Raftrey, trading standards officer at Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, says: "The company had unwittingly imported the coils, believing that they met the German DIN standard requirements." No action has been taken against the importers or the Scottish truck parts stockist.
Allen Industrial has set up a hotline offering advice on 40 how to spot fraud. ulent air brake
coils. Contact: 01745 586300.