2:10pm Monday 15th March 2010
By Ben Parsons, Crime Reporter
Potentially dangerous “fake” spirits are flooding city shops.
Hundreds of bottles of drink with fake duty stamps or incomplete labels have been seized from at least 30 off-licences in Brighton and Hove over the last year.
Trading standards officers say where rules are broken there is often no way to tell if the spirits will be harmful to the public.
They are contacting independent shops and bars to warn them they could be on the wrong side of the law if they sell the products.
While some of the bottles with fake duty stamps are genuine, others have been reported to leave a limescale-like film on the glass.
In the past, vodkas have been found in Brighton and Hove containing methanol, which can cause blindness and is the basis of anti-freeze and some fuels.
Cat MacBeth, fair trading officer at Brighton and Hove City Council’s trading standards department, said: “So far we have been lucky, there have not been any health issues.
“We are going to be sending out letters to independent off-licences and independent bars.”
Suspect bottles, including Italian-made vodkas Drops and Drago, have been found in dozens of shops in the city.
Officers have already applied for a review of one Hove shop’s licence, where 100 bottles were found. Another shop had 245 bottles in stock when officers arrived.
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