Sweetshop sold repackaged chocolate worth 30p, for £3 a bar

A sweetshop has been fined £1400 for selling fake Wonka chocolate bars for £3 a bar which were really ASDA own-brand bars costing only 30p.

An investigation by a South Wales Council’s trading standards team found the sweetshop were buying Smart Price chocolate bars from ASDA and re-packaging them as Nestlé’s premium ‘WONKA’ brand making more than £2 in profit from each bar they sold.

Sweet66 Ltd, based in Cwnbran, South Wales was found guilty of eight offences including breach of trademark and misleading customers.

In a hearing at Newport’s magistrates’ court  it was revealed that the company owned by Mr Alexander Gwillym, 39, of Llantarnam, Cwmbran, started selling the counterfeit chocolate bars in September 2012.

The Court also heard that Mr Gwillym had made an unsuccessful bid attempt to register his own  ‘Mr Wonka Bar’ trade mark, but was advised that his application was too similar the existing Wonka trademarks, owned by Nestle, and would therefore be likely mislead the public.

The company was fined £400 and an extra £1000 in legal costs.

Mr Gwillym was also personally fined £480 for trading offences.

Cllr Gwyneira Clark, from Torfaen council, said: "Consumers expect to buy goods, including food, that are correctly labelled in accordance with consumer protection laws.

"The work of Torfaen’s Public Protection service is vital to safeguard the health and economic well-being of the public and this prosecution sends out a message to all retailers that selling counterfeit goods will not be tolerated."