Pokemon – "No" says Enfield Council

Posted 10/08/17

• Trader prosecuted over flammable Pokemon cushions 
• Enfield Council prosecuted after 92 cushions seized ahead of Christmas last year
• Business and director order to pay more than £8,000 after being found guilty in their absence

It was a case of you haven’t “Gotta get ‘em all” after Enfield Council prosecuted a company for selling dangerously flammable Pokemon cushions which were suspected of being fake.
 
The Council’s trading standards officers seized 92 assorted cushions from a shop in Enfield in December 2016, the cushions, which resembled the Pokemon character Pikachu or the Pokeball.
 
Samples of the cushions were sent for testing and promptly failed an ignitability test. Sea Blue Ltd and Director Ian Jones, 35, from Hagley Road, Birmingham, were subsequently prosecuted and convicted of two breaches of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) regulations 1988 in their absence at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 20 July.
 
Each defendant was ordered to pay £4,904 each, made up of a fine of £2,000 for each offence, costs of £734 and a £170 Victim Surcharge.
 
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Daniel Anderson, said: “These products are blatently aimed at children and it is utterly reprehensible that a company would seek to sell these products to children without bothering to check they complied with the proper safety standards.
 
“Enfield Council is committed to taking all necessary steps to protect the public and will remove unsafe products and prosecute their sellers whenever necessary. We take a dim view of illegal business practices and of unreputable businesses operating in Enfield and we won’t tolerate behaviour, which puts the safety of our residents at risk.”

Enfield Council is committed to building strong communities, by protecting residents and preventing the sale of unsafe products to unwitting consumers.

---