Havering Council’s trading standards and enforcement officers seized thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit products and unsafe vapes from the Bonzer Car Boot Sale recently.
Working alongside the Metropolitan Police in a joint operation on Thursday 1 May 2025, the Council’s officers targeted individuals and traders selling unsafe counterfeit, stolen or illegal goods.
At the car boot sale off Whalebone Lane North, the trading standards team identified three stalls involved in unlawful trading.
One was selling suspected counterfeit and potentially unsafe perfumes and fragrances, plus electrical items.
The other two stalls were found to be selling illegal vapes that did not meet UK regulations.
A total of £12,600 worth of counterfeit and unsafe products were seized, along with £5,400 worth of non-compliant vapes.
This action is part of ongoing efforts to crack down on the sale of illegal goods and protect the public from unsafe products.
Councillor Ray Morgon, Leader of Havering Council, said:
“This is once again excellent work from our trading standards team working in partnership with police and other partners.
“Illegal and harmful products have been taken off the streets in our borough as a result of this operation.
"I know there has been a lot of work to get this result, so I thank everyone involved.
“It’s our aim to help keep our residents as safe as possible.
“We want to continue to crackdown on a crime that is often hiding in plain sight in venues such as car boot sales and in and around our town centres.
"That is why we will continue to take the strongest action we can, against those trying to sell these harmful and illegal products and work with the police to bring them to justice.”
Police seized around half a million pounds worth of suspected stolen tools overall.
They made six arrests and recovered around 1,500 items at the boot sale and a further 159 tools were seized during another search at a property in Hackney.
The intelligence-led activity was carried out in response to concerns from tradespeople about tool theft.
Inspector Mark Connolly, from the Havering Safer Neighbourhood Team who led the operation, said:
"We know tool theft has a significant impact on tradespeople and we're working hard across the Met to tackle it through targeted operations such as this as well as prevention with those directly affected.
"While victims have their livelihoods disrupted, organised crime groups are making significant money from selling on suspected stolen tools and we won't stand for it.
"This is the second operation of this kind we've carried out over the past month.
"We will continue to take action against those who make the lives of Londoners a misery through this type of offending."
"The operation followed months of planning and resulted in more than 1,500 tools worth around £150,000 being seized from the 80,000 square foot site which hosts the car boot sale.
Four men and two women, aged between 25 and 60 and from Hackney, Newham and Kent, were arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.
They have since been bailed while officers carry out further enquiries.