Businessman was caught four times with hundreds of dangerous fake toys, including Peppa Pig and Minions dolls

A businessman caught four times with fake and unsafe toys has been fined more than £5,000.

More than 1,100 items seized by trading standards officers from Salford -based Baljit Singh Batra were found to be either counterfeit or did not meet safety standards.

They included knock-off Peppa Pig, Minions, Disney and Thomas the Tank Engine dolls, fake Samsung charging cables and other plastic toys which exceeded legal limits of chemicals.

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Batra, known as Mr Singh, pleaded guilty to eight trademark and product safety offences at Manchester and Salford magistrates' court.

On behalf of the company A2Z Smoking Products Ltd on Rugby Street, Broughton, he also admitted eight product safety offences relating to unsafe packaging and labelling.

In total Mr Singh and the company were fined £5,840 and ordered to pay £3,880 costs.

The court heard that Mr Singh was first warned when trading standards officers visited the warehouse on August 1, 2019 and seized fake Peppa Pig and Funny Face toys.

Officers visited again on October 30, 2019 and told Mr Singh that any items suspected to be counterfeit or unsafe would be seized.

Some dolls were found to have unsafe levels of chemicals (Salford council)

They selected three toys for safety testing and Mr Singh agreed to remove the remaining stock from sale until further notice.

The toys failed the tests and the remainder of the stock was destroyed.

Officers also seized a number of toys including Disney, Thomas the Tank Engine and Peppa Pig dolls and Samsung charging cables which were found to be fake.

On December 11, 2019 officers returned to the business and seized My Baby Betty dolls, toy unicorn squishes, blow up Santas and giraffes and flashing Minions toys, which contained illegal levels of phthalates - chemicals used to make plastic soft.

Mr Singh business as caught with fake and unsafe toys four times before he ended up in court (Salford council)

The toys also broke labelling regulations because they didn't include a warning saying they were a choking hazard for children under three.

Speaking after the hearing Coun David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety at Salford council, said: "Safety testing is there to protect the public and that was made crystal clear to Mr Singh.

"He has repeatedly ignored this and continued to sell unsafe and counterfeit products.

"I hope this prosecution and heavy fine serves as a warning to him and other traders not to play fast and loose with safety.

"I applaud the council officers involved for protecting consumers."