Hull-based Yorkshire Plywood Ltd has been fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £2,650 costs after pleading guilty to supplying 22 crates of misdescribed timber to Vincent Murphy and Co Ltd in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.
The prosecution was brought by Knowsley Council’s Trading Standards section. Trading Standards enforcement officer Ian Cowley said: “We were approached by Vincent Murphy who had specifically ordered a consignment of BB/CC Mujur plywood from Yorkshire Plywood but were provided with a grade of plywood known as Continental grade plywood which is slightly inferior aesthetically and is also cheaper.”
He added: “I conducted an investigation into the supply chain of the plywood.
“They [Yorkshire Plywood] either did it knowingly or they didn’t have the systems in place to avoid such circumstances.”
John Aylward, a director of Yorkshire Plywood, told TTJ: “As a company we import BB/CC Mujur and BB/CC Continental grade and we incorrectly sent Vincent Murphy the wrong thing. We offered to exchange it but they declined and informed Trading Standards. We have since put in controls to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Malcolm Cowley (no relation to Ian Cowley), who was contacted by Vincent Murphy when still chairman of the Timber Trade Federation‘s (TTF) National Panel Products Division said: “I told the company that the recommendation of the TTF is to go down the most logical route if anybody is seen to be in apparent default – and that is through Trading Standards.
“I think the outcome of this case serves as an excellent warning to others and would encourage anyone who thinks they are being fraudulently supplied to take the matter to Trading Standards.”