Hundreds of deadly Chinese teddy bears seized at Portsmouth warehouse

Hundreds of potentially lethal plush 6ft tall toys were found when officers from Portsmouth City Council '“ who have called the bears '˜deadly' '“ raided a distribution warehouse.

Inspectors found the giant bears imported from China had safety flaws that could have led to youngsters choking.

The £50-a-pop teddies were discovered when trading standards officers opened boxes that were being unloaded from a container.

Now they have been seized by the council, with the distributor banned from selling them onward.

Andrew Townley, who led the raid, said: '˜We were led to believe they were mattress toppers but a huge teddy bear fell out.

'˜If we hadn't arrived when we did, the bears would have been loaded on to a lorry and taken off to be sold around the country.

'˜Test showed the bears posed several safety risks to children under three.

'˜The tag on the zip could be pulled off and swallowed, and the zip was insecure, meaning a child could get at the stuffing and possibly choke or suffocate on it. The plastic wrapping was a suffocation risk too.

'˜At the warehouse there were also large numbers of dangerous electrical items which had serious failings.'

Around 10,000 items were banned from sale by the council '“ with the distributor having six months to prove the ban is wrong.

If they do not, the items will be recycled or destroyed.

Other goods found at the warehouse included

:: Unsafe battery chargers, capable of giving an electric shock

:: Transformers that could catch fire.

:: Electric car tyre inflators that could short circuit.

:: Fake golf club grips.

Agencies from America and representatives of US companies joined the raid, along with UK tax officials.

Councillor Dave Ashmore, the cabinet member for community safety, said: '˜This was a great piece of work by our trading standards team, stopping thousands of unsafe or fake products from going on sale before Christmas.'