A SOUTHAMPTON trader caught flogging counterfeit designer clothing at a car boot sale has been ordered to pay out tens of thousands of pounds.

Dildar Singh Bhatti had fake Fred Perry and North Face items at the Ashley Heath Car Boot Sale.

On Friday, May 31, he appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court to be sentenced for 11 offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 of possessing counterfeit goods for sale.

He had admitted the offences at an earlier hearing.

The court heard Bhatti, 47, had fake t-shirts, polo shirts, tracksuits, shorts, sandals and trainers falsely bearing the fake marks of:

  • Fred Perry
  • North Face
  • Superdry
  • Puma
  • Hugo Boss
  • Polo
  • Moncler
  • Lacoste
  • Nike
  • Stone Island

Dorset County Council’s Trading Standards team received a consumer complaint that a man was selling counterfeit clothing an footwear at the car boot sale in Three Legged Cross.

When Trading Standards officers visited the market, they found Bhatti selling seemingly real branded goods for well below their market value.

A total of 1,768 items were seized. The owners of the trademark later confirmed that all were false.

Had the items been genuine, they would have fetched around £25,000.

Bhatti, of Firgrove Road in Southampton, didn’t cooperate with council investigators. However, he pleaded guilty during his first appearance before magistrates.

The case was then sent to the crown court while a financial investigation was carried out under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

At a hearing in April, he was ordered to pay a confiscation order of £30,000 or face nine months in prison in default.

Prosecutors were also awarded £10,000 costs and Bhatti was told he must complete 250 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.

In addition, he was sentenced to a month behind bars, suspended for nine months.

Judge Robert Pawson said Bhatti’s offences ‘undermine’ companies.

“You knew exactly what you were up to and you should have known better,” he said.

“Legitimate businesses invest time, money and effort to develop their brands and your actions have undermined all of this.”

Every one of the items seized by investigators will be destroyed.

Ivan Hancock, trading standards service manager at the new Dorset Council, said: “The sale of counterfeit goods can have a seriously detrimental effect on legitimate local businesses selling genuine goods, as well as damaging the business of trade mark owners.

“We will continue to take enforcement action in cases like these.”

To report a matter to Trading Standards, call the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06.