Barking Market ‘poison dolls’ seller banned after stocking more dangerous toys
Rashid Suleman - Credit: Archant
A market seller outed by the Post for stocking potentially poisonous dolls in 2013 has been banned from trading after selling more unsafe toys to the public.
Flashback to the Post front page in May 2013 revealing that Suleman had been selling dangerous toys. He said he hadn't known they were dangerous - Credit: Archant
Rashid Suleman, 42, was also fined £1,500 for the offence, and for obstructing trading standards Officers from Barking and Dagenham Council.
Back in May 2013 the Post received a tip-off that Suleman was stocking the dolls, which could have contained the poisonous chemical DEHP and had already been the subject of a Europe-wide recall, at his stall.
Our reporter visited the stall and was able to buy one, before confronting him – after which he said he had not known the toys were dangerous, and would remove them from sale.
But 12 months later trading standards seized 21 more dangerous toys from Suleman’s Barking Market stall. He claimed nine of them had been supplied by a company called R C Flyzone Ltd, the Town Hall said – but failed to tell officers he was a director there.
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When asked, they added, he claimed he’d been made a director without his knowledge and didn’t even know where the other director was.
But after what the council called “extensive enquiries”, trading standards found the other director – who confirmed Suleman was in fact R C Flyzone’s managing director.
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A spokesman said the council’s trading standards department gave Suleman, of Eton Road, Ilford, “advice” following the Post’s front page exclusive in 2013.
“Suleman chose to ignore the advice,” she added, “and went on to sell more dangerous toys at the market.”
He was convicted at Barkingside on January 9 of failing to use marked or other means of providing information about goods as required by safety regulations, and giving false information to an enforcement officer.
His trading licence was revoked, the council said, and he was fined £1,530 and made to pay the council £600 costs. He also has to pay a £30 victim surcharge.
Cllr Laila Butt, cabinet member for crime and enforcement, said: “Suleman is an example of the minority of traders who do not act in a socially responsible manner.
“Not only did he ignore advice from our trading standards but he also obstructed them from performing their duty.
“Due to the obstruction, the officers had to carry out extensive searches. They also recommended his market trading licence was revoked. Our officers worked hard on this case and the case should act as a warning to other traders that we will not tolerate traders who break the law or put our residents’ lives in danger.
“We welcome investment into our borough but traders need to understand they have a social responsibility to do the right thing and abide by the law. Those who don’t will face consequences and prosecution.”
