As part of its work to protect young children from harm, Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards carries out safety inspections to identify clothing, toys and other products that do not meet UK safety requirements and could therefore cause potential harm.
While carrying out a safety inspection in the Rugby area, officers discovered a ‘Soft Toy – Holding Blanket’ being sold for £10 on a market stall in the Rugby Clock Towers Shopping Centre.
Officers purchased and tested the product which subsequently failed toy safety standards in three significant areas: it contained detachable parts; users could easy access to filling material; and the loop feature holding the blanket did not break when tested. These defects present a choking and strangulation hazard to children.
All dangerous toys have been voluntarily surrendered by the trader and investigations are continuing into the origin of the products.
According to the Child Accident Prevention Trust, asphyxia (which includes choking, strangling and suffocation) is the second most common cause of accidental child death in the UK, after road traffic accidents.
Simon Cripwell, Trading Standards officer said: “Warwickshire Trading Standards carries out regular checks on the safety of toys to help ensure that unsafe products are not sold and are quickly removed from sale.
“In this case, these toys were found to fail the toy safety standards and have since been removed from sale.”
