Watch on rogue traders at Great Dorset Steam Fair (From Dorset Echo)

Watch on rogue traders at Great Dorset Steam Fair

11:10am Monday 29th June 2009 in

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TRADING standards chiefs warned that they will be swooping on rogue traders at the Great Dorset Steam Fair.

The vow comes after a counterfeit goods dealer was prosecuted for selling fake designer goods from a market stall at the event last year.

Harmeet Singh Sidana, aged 24, of Hayes, London, admitted nine offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994.

He was given a community order to carry out 120 hours’ unpaid work, ordered to complete a programme of education and training of up to 30 days. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £900 at the hearing at Weymouth Magistrates Court.

Magistrates made a forfeiture order for the disposal of the 900 items seized by trading standards officers.

The offences included selling a counterfeit copy of a New Era-brand baseball cap to a trading standards officer and eight offences of possessing various other counterfeit items with a view to selling them.

They involved hats and caps with the brand names of New Era, Dolce & Gabbana and Levi Strauss.

Other items in the haul included counterfeit Dior hair grips, fake Rolex, Gucci and Playboy watches, and copies of Chanel sunglasses.

Trading standards officers said they seized 900 counterfeit items from Sidana’s stall and van in August last year at the steam fair at Tarrant Hinton, near Blandford.

Bill Jaggs, head of regulatory services for Dorset County Council, said: “The sale of counterfeit goods can undermine local retailers and market traders trying to make an honest living.

“The sale of counterfeits also helps fund more serious criminal activity by those further up the supply chain.

“This is one of several recent cases resulting from our enforcement operations at the Great Dorset Steam Fair and I would urge anyone selling goods at this year’s event to think very carefully about what they are doing and check their stock.

“Trading standards officers will again be vigilant and traders in fakes should face up to the reality of their stock being seized, financial penalties, imprisonment and other punishments.”

The council said Sidana bought around 1,000 items for £500 from a man he met at a car boot sale in West London, and who told him they were a stock clearance.

The council said that Sidana had a regular part-time job in a supermarket and attended around four markets or boot sales a month as a stall holder to supplement this income.