A trader caught selling counterfeit clothing at a Dorset car boot sale has been ordered to pay £40,000, undertake 250 hours of unpaid work and given a suspended prison sentence.
Mr Dildar Singh Bhatti, aged 47, of Firgrove Road, Southampton, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on 31 May 2019, having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to 11 offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 of possessing counterfeit goods for sale. The offending goods included t-shirts; polo shirts; tracksuits, shorts, sandals and training shoes falsely bearing the fake marks of Fred Perry, North Face, Superdry, Puma, Adidas, Hugo Boss, Polo, Moncler, Lacoste, Nike and Stone Island.
The Court heard Dorset County Council Trading Standards had received a consumer complaint that a man was selling counterfeit clothing and footwear at Ashley Heath Car Boot Sale, situated at Three Legged Cross, Dorset. Trading Standards officers visited the market on 18 June 2017 where they found Mr Bhatti selling branded goods at significantly below their retail prices. A total of 1,768 items were seized and later confirmed to be counterfeit by the trade mark owners. Had the goods been genuine they would have been worth around £25,000.
Mr Bhatti did not co-operate with investigators, but pleaded guilty at the first hearing in the Magistrate’s Court. The case was sent to Crown Court while trading standards carried out a financial investigation, completed as Dorset Council, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. At a hearing on 18 April 2019 he was ordered he pay a confiscation order of £30,000 or face nine months imprisonment in default.
In sentencing Bhatti for the Trade Marks Act offences, the Judge said: “You knew exactly what you were up to and you should have known better. Legitimate businesses invest time, money and effort to develop their brands and your actions have undermined all of this.” He also ordered forfeiture of all 1,768 items seized.
Ivan Hancock, trading standards service manager at Dorset Council, said: “The sale of counterfeit goods can have a seriously detrimental effect on legitimate local businesses selling genuine goods, as well as damaging the business of trade mark owners. We will continue to take enforcement action in cases like these.”
Anyone needing to report a matter to Trading Standards should call the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06.
