Counterfeit designer goods were openly sold on the market at Appleby horse Fair today as police looked on and trading standards seemed to be nowhere in sight.
MailOnline discovered eight stalls with suspicious goods including designer handbags, sunglasses and clothing.
All the stalls seemed to be doing a roaring trade as customers snapped up items sold at a fraction of the retail price of original branded items.
The market is the centerpiece of the historic annual horse fair, which attracts over 40,000 visitors including 30,000 travellers, effectively taking over the market town of Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria.
The vast majority of the stalls in the sprawling field on the edge of town are legitimate, selling everything from household items and caged birds to riding gear and children’s toys.
At one stage, the reporter watched as two police officers from Cumbria briefly went to speak to staff at two market stalls selling apparently suspicious items but left after a few moments.
As the officers were leaving after an earlier patrol around the market, a reporter asked if the goods for sale seemed genuine, and one of them replied with a smile: “I’m not sure. I have no idea’.
The market stall sold a range of fake bags, posing as Mulberry, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Chloe, Burberry, Fendi, Gucci and Vivienne Westwood.
A reporter watched a teenage girl pay £35 in cash for a black Vivienne Westwood bag hanging at the back of the stall.
The woman at the stall then rolled up her price list and told the reporter that Chanel handbags cost £45, while small Fendi bags and Burberry bags cost £55.
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When the reporter asked, “I don’t think they’re being completely honest,” the woman laughed and replied with a smile, “No.” She giggled and added, “I don’t think there’s anything in this fair.”
But the woman insisted the whole range of Waterford crystal including picture frames for sale on her stand was genuine, saying: “It’s all real.”
Another stall sold skimpy short-sleeved Louis Vuitton tops and matching women’s shorts under a sign that cost £30.
Alongside the clothes were black t-shirts and matching leggings emblazoned with the names of designer brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Moschino.
The stall owner said: “The t-shirts themselves are £15 depending on which one you need. It depends if we have it. We have all sizes.”
When the reporter asked, “How real are they?”, a customer who was busy buying two items interjected and said, “He doesn’t know. He’s just a worker.’
The stall holder then smiled and agreed that everything he was selling was of ‘good quality’.
One of the stalls visited by police sold a range of Boss and Kenzo branded sweatshirts and tops, as well as sunglasses, including some branded Chanel and Rayban.
Staff said they were selling their ‘Boss’ tops for £45 and sunglasses for £15 each or £20 with a chain.
When a reporter asked if they were all genuine, a stall worker joked: ‘Stolen’ as customers laughed.
When a reporter later took a photo of some of the sunglasses, saying he wanted to send the photos to his daughter so she could choose, the stallholder snapped: ‘No pictures, no pictures’.
A second stallholder, who spoke to police, allegedly sold Louis Vuitton, YSL, Fendi, Gucci and Dior handbags, sunglasses and a selection of belts with Hermes, Burberry, Gucci and Louis Vuitton logos.
One other stall sold alleged designer bags including designer Chanel handbags for between £80 and £100, while another sold alleged Dolce & Gabbana jackets and matching women’s shorts and coats.
Two teenagers were also sitting at a table selling a range of flashy hair clips, including some with the Chanel label, for just £8 each.
Appleby horse fair has its roots in Travelers and Gypsies using it as a marketplace to buy and sell horses, but has become more of a social event for members of the traveling community and an opportunity to meet old and new friends.
The fair allows people to ride horses and horse-drawn carriages along the town’s main road and bathe their animals in the River Eden next to the bridge in the center of Appleby.
Westmorland and Furness Council Trading Standards officers have previously hinted at a crackdown on counterfeit goods at this year’s fair.
The council’s trading standards manager Caterine Hornby issued a statement last month warning traders and consumers to be wary of counterfeit goods.
She did not mention clothing, but identified counterfeit alcohol, tobacco, perfume, cosmetics and branded electrical goods as concerns, although MailOnline could not find any of these items for sale.
Ms Hornby added: “Last year trading standards officers found some evidence of counterfeit goods at the fair.
“The problem is small in scale, but the risk of serious harm from counterfeit goods, such as sunglasses that do not provide full UV protection, or untested cosmetics, perfumes and electrical goods, is clear.
“Our message to traders and consumers is that it’s just not worth the risk.”
The official Appleby’s website also speaks out against counterfeit goods, describing them as “low quality, unreliable and sometimes dangerous”.
It warns that any trader selling counterfeit goods at a fair could face a fine of up to £5,000 or imprisonment for up to six months at the Magistrates’ Court or an unlimited fine or up to 10 years’ imprisonment at the Crown Court for trademark infringement.
Trading standards officers at Cumbria County Council seized 2,400 counterfeit items from five stallholders who were removed from the site at the 2010 fair.
The items, including jewellery, sunglasses, clothes, trainers and handbags, would be worth up to £270,000 if they were genuine.
The council was supported in its seizure by representatives of the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Mark Holders Group, an association set up by retailers and manufacturers to fight those dealing in counterfeit goods.
The following year, official records show that 900 counterfeit items worth £50,000, if genuine, were seized from four traders removed from the site.
However, according to the annual evaluation reports compiled after each fair, there were no seizures of counterfeit goods between 2012 and 2016.
The assessment reports have since changed and now mention no record of counterfeit goods at the fair.
Director of Trading Standards at Cumbria County Council John Greenbank said in 2010: “Profits from the sale of counterfeit goods support organized crime and reduce business for legitimate clothing and sportswear manufacturers and retailers.
“The market place at Appleby Fair is another part of this unique meeting of gypsies and travellers.
“It attracts professional non-Gypsy and Traveler market traders from urban areas such as Glasgow, Greater Manchester and Birmingham.
“Both the settled community, Gypsies and Travelers would like to see the Horse Pilgrimage reflect its traditional heritage and do not want any undesirable elements to profit in any way from this historic cultural event. This type of crime is not welcome and will not be tolerated anywhere in Cumbria.”
Cumbria Police Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham added at the time: “We will not accept this type of activity in the town center and the same goes for Appleby Fair.
“Gypsies, travelers and visitors spend a significant amount of money supporting the local economy in Cumbria and have a right to know that the goods they are buying are authentic and made to a good standard.”