South Ayrshire Council News

Pictured is Authorised Officer Brian Scobie with the seized goods.

A swashbuckling raid on a man who was selling pirate copies of the latest movies, music and console games at Troon harbour resulted in him receiving a blockbuster fine of £3,000 when he pled guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court. The court heard how George Alexander Clark, of Seamill, Ayrshire was also found in possession of computers and hardware for making the counterfeit discs when his home was raided as part of the investigation.

South Ayrshire Council Trading Standards cornered Clark, 60, in February last year when he attempted to sell his illegal discs from the back of his car to workers at the harbour area in Troon. The counterfeit goods were seized when officers from Trading Standards and Troon Police acted on intelligence, revealing he made regular visits to that area.

The seizure at Troon also led to his house in Seamill being searched by officers from North Ayrshire Trading Standards where even more items were discovered including the equipment for producing the copies. In all computers and around 1,000 items were seized and they included the latest movie titles of the time such as Harry Potter, Star Wars and Walk The Line. Latest music releases from bands such as Green Day and up to date Playstation games like Grand Theft Auto and FIFA Football were also found.

Councillor Peter Convery, who is responsible for Trading Standards and Environmental Health matters added "Our Council has an anti counterfeiting partnership with North and East Ayrshire Councils together with industry representatives called Fake Free Ayrshire. This case is a great example of what can be achieved when we all work together. The large fine also shows the increased seriousness with which the courts are viewing this type of offence."

Councillor Convery added, "It's also worth mentioning that the good work of our officers was only possible in this case because of information supplied by the public. The public act as our eyes and ears in the battle against counterfeiting and this case was as a result of such information. I would urge any member of the public who has any information about counterfeiting to contact our Trading Standards Office on 01292 616403."