More than £15.3m worth of dangerous or non-compliant items have been intercepted and seized at East Midlands Airport in the last year, it has been revealed.
The unsafe items were destined for shops and online marketplaces, where they could be bought by unsuspecting customers.
Among the 44,000 items seized, were electrical good which could overheat and cause fires, toys which failed to meet UK safety standards, jewellery with high levels of hazardous metals and cosmetics containing toxic ingredients.
They have all been sent to a specialist disposal firm for recycling.
East Midlands Airport is the UK’s second busiest cargo airport, handling more than 320,000 tonnes of flown cargo each year.
The Leicestershire Trading Standards team works in partnership with Border Force on the nationally-funded project at East Midlands Airport. The role of the two organisations is to examine imported items and take enforcement action, to ensure that consumers are not exposed to unsafe and dangerous products.
The partnership is intelligence-led, which means that Trading Standards and Border Force can target resources in the areas of highest risk, with potentially unlawful and non-compliant consignments being identified, targeted and then intercepted.
“Our Trading Standards team, in partnership with Border Force, carries out vital work which protects consumers in Leicestershire and the wider UK as it ensures that unsafe goods do not make their way into the supply chain,” said Councillor Deborah Taylor, cabinet member for regulatory services.
“All these products which have been seized either present a danger to the public, or are substandard, so it is crucial that they are intercepted and either made safe or sent for recycling.”
