Residents are being urged to take extra care when buying toys for Christmas presents this year.
The advice comes from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Trading Standards who have seized over 62,000 unsafe toys during the past 18 months. Their haul has included a mixture of products including model vehicles, action figures and games.
In many cases, there were no safety certificates for these toys, and there were very obvious risks to children's safety such as easily removable wheels on model diggers that could have choked a child.
Jacqui Harvey, Head of Operations for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Trading Standards said: “Our advice is to buy only from reputable traders that you know will give paramount importance to the safety of the child. Take extra care on online platforms. You will not be familiar with most of the sellers on these platforms, and many will import directly from overseas without regard for our toy safety requirements.
“Toys should be labelled with the name and address of the manufacturer, or if the manufacturer is outside the UK, the name and address of the manufacturer and the importer into the UK; type, batch, serial or model number; and should be labelled with a CE mark or UKCA mark – a sign that they have been tested against UK safety standards. If the toy contains button or ‘cell’ batteries, they should be safely secured behind a screwed down flap or behind a cover that requires an action of a minimum of two independent movements. If any of these are missing, don’t buy them.
“If the price seems particularly low, it may indicate that the item is counterfeit. Whilst genuine brands work hard to make sure their products are safe, those who deal in counterfeits do not. Often the parts are inferior, they may contain unsafe chemicals and of course won’t have passed any UK safety tests to make sure they are safe for a child.”
The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) has a wealth of information on their webpages about the hazards to look out for and has produced a series of videos warning about dangerous toys and how to avoid buying them. Watch a short video or a longer video to find out more.
If you have concerns about the safety of anything you’ve bought or received please report these concerns to Trading Standards via our Partner organisation, the Citizens Advice Consumer Service. They can be contacted on 0808 223 1133 or you can complete their online report form.
