Trading standards warn public to be on lookout for Tartan Collection paint pot sets after import firm is fined £12,000

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Parents are being urged to be vigilant after thousands of children's face paint sets containing dangerously high levels of lead were sold to British shops.

About 7,200 of the Tartan Collection paint pot sets were imported from a factory in China – but only 324 have been returned after a product recall by trading standards.

The firm that imported the sets, Chelford Limited, based in Salford, Greater Manchester, was fined £14,000 this week for breaching product safety laws.

Salford city council, which brought the prosecution, has warned parents to stay away from the face paints, which contain up to 3.5% lead. The metal can be absorbed through the skin and cause damage to the nervous system. The trading standards investigation, launched in 2011, found the sets on sale at shops in Salford and Rochdale.

The £1 sets contain stencils and five pots of face paint in different colours, with the lead found in the yellow pots.

Salford trading standards officers bought a test sample from Pound Paradise and discovered they were toxic. They demanded the entire batch be taken off the shelves and returned to the company. It is not known how many sets have been bought or used.

Gareth Hollingsworth, senior trading standards officer at Salford city council, said: "I'm hoping there is not any cases of lead poisoning but these have gone to all four corners of the UK and without having results from hospitals about lead toxicity it is quite hard to comment."

An expert report by the council said lead toxicity can damage almost every organ and is especially dangerous to young children, even at low levels.

The regulations say lead in the paint pots should be about 20 parts per million but analysts found they were at 16,900 parts per million.

The investigation was prompted last year by health officials in Ireland who alerted UK authorities after discovering the paints on sale there.

The Salford mayor, Ian Stewart, said: "It's very worrying, especially at this time of year, that these dangerous items have found their way on to the high street. It's really important that the public are extremely vigilant. These sets can be very dangerous, particularly to small children."

Chelford Limited, based at Agecroft trading estate, was ordered to pay more than £12,000 in fines and £2,657 in court costs for breaching product safety laws. Its managing director, Joel Cope, 39, was also fined £1,200 for putting the public's health at risk, plus £1,200 court costs.

He admitted six breaches of product safety regulations in his role as managing director and a further six identical offences on behalf of the company.

Chelford's website describes the firm as "the UK's leading importer specialising in keyrings and stationery". The company declined an opportunity to comment on Friday.

A second batch of 7,000 of the paints was imported by the firm but the council stepped in and impounded them.

Toby Sasse, who represented Chelford Limited and Cope in court, said his clients had co-operated with the investigation and admitted guilt. He said the firm had been given misleading advice by consultants who suggested he was complying with the correct regulations in the UK and Cope had been carrying out further testing of the paints when trading standards became involved.

Anyone with the face paint set should contact their local trading standards authority.