Don’t Compromise Your Child’s Safety This Christmas

Sit back for a moment and consider the amount of products available to us on the high street that provides a cheaper alternative to the real thing. Fashion is at the forefront of my mind; as consumers, we are lavished in affordable replications of the unaffordable designer brands. We let the major supermarkets fight between themselves to offer the most cost-effective food aisles, while electrical stores contend with the eclipsing black market.

There is no need to mention names as we all know who I’m talking about, but what I’m really talking about is how we can’t be tempted by a cheaper substitute when lives are involved, even if we save a few pounds.

Almost every week I read articles on children who have disastrous encounters with toys that parents have purchased from rogue trader and unknown retailers. With Christmas looming, these parents are suddenly greeted with extensive and unrealistic wish lists from their kids. They are forced to concede in the secrecy of their idiotic minds that by getting that doll from the guy down the pub or racing car from the woman at the Sunday market will not only save them a few quid this year, but will serve as a safe equivalent. And who is to question their parental decisiveness? They’re only kids, right – would they even tell the difference? The main difference is a very thin line between them stroking the loose hair on their new Barbie doll, to actually choking on it. Yes, they are kids now.

It is estimated that a distressing 35% of toys that are imported into the UK are not meeting the safety criteria set by the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) and are being sold in shops and on market stores, with more arriving during the festive period.

“Some countries are completely ignoring the safety standards required by the UK market,” says Christine Heemskerk from the TSI. “China, for example, has very poor safety controls and is the world’s biggest toy exporter. The problem is compounded by some unscrupulous retailers illegally stamping safety marks on products which have not passed the necessary safety tests. Everyone is concerned – manufacturers and enforcement authorities alike.”

Three years ago, trading standards chiefs claimed unsafe toys had virtually disappeared from Britain, partly due to extremely robust European regulations. The epidemic, however, has since returned with China sustaining their lax controls and now exporting a staggering 22billion toys a year – 20 million of these entering the UK.

But, it is the household brands that have come under scrutiny lately. In June this year, Mattel, the world’s biggest toymaker, were forced to recall 94,000 Fisher Price products and thousands of Barbie furniture play sets over fears that their paint contained excessive amounts of lead. A Month later, two million Polly Pocket, Batman and Doggie Daycare toys were also taken off the shelves because they contained small magnets.

“We have to target the manufacturers as they are regularly contracting and subcontracting out their work,” Heemskerk continues. “We find the biggest risks come from small parts, lead in paints and highly-toxic chemicals in some plastic toys.”

Council trading standard bosses are also vehemently warning shoppers this Christmas to be vigilant when buying baby products and children’s games after uncovering potentially lethal fake toys across the country. The Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), which works closely with local council trading standards, claims officers seized tens of thousands of counterfeit items since September, with a large proportion bearing the names of popular children’s characters.

“The fakes are often poorly made, don’t carry the required CE safety mark and can break easily, posing choking hazards,” says a spokesperson for LACORS. “We have seized large quantities of toys from various outlets, including warehouses, shops, market stalls and street traders.”

The list of areas involved in the operation is voluminous and it is seemingly apparent there is no corner of the country where illegal or dangerous toys can hide. Norfolk Trading Standards apprehended more than 600 counterfeit ‘Hello Kitty’ toys from a stall in a Norwich shopping centre, while Bedfordshire Trading Standards seized 400 unsafe items from a baby store in Bedford. And Trading Standard officers in Salford, Liverpool, Blackburn and Bury have between them confiscated thousands of fake toys displaying brands such as Disney and Spiderman.

Babyoka are an online baby shop that work with all the top brands and some less well-known, but reputable manufacturers. They are fully aware of the imperilments when children and toys merge, and are especially rigorous with the manufacturers they use and the safety standards that need to be adhered to.

“We work very closely with all of our manufacturers to ensure that we only stock products that are completely compliant with all required safety standards, including visiting the factories themselves,” says Rebecca May at Babyoka. “Stay safe, shop at Babyoka and remember: a sensible parent means a safe and happy child.”

So, a busy schedule ahead for local authorities, manufacturers and retailers at a time when the season of giving and sharing begins. Never before have parents’ judgement and attentiveness been needed to make Christmas a happy one – not a fatal one.