Shropshire alert over sale of deadly fake booze

New Year's Eve revellers were today warned by the Local Government Association to avoid buying unusually cheap spirits. It follows a number of cases where cheap bottles of vodka have been sold in Shropshire.

Trading standards officials warn the vodka could include hazardous chemicals including anti-freeze, nail polish or raw alcohol. People in at least two towns in the county have been approached by people selling bottles of vodka cheaply.

Hundreds of thousands of litres of counterfeit booze have been seized by council trading standards officers in recent months, some of which has been found to contain harmful chemicals that could lead to blindness or worse.

Shropshire Liberal Democrat Melfyn Ab-Owain said he was offered suspect bottles in a car park in Craven Arms.

He said: "I had just got out of the car and was talking to a group of people gathered outside, when a gentleman came around offering these bottles for £5 each.

"I didn't recognise the label – it had obviously taken some care and attention to make, but with desktop publishing nowadays that's not rocket science.

"There have apparently been similar cases in Ludlow and I will be reporting it to the police and trading standards."

Nigel Hartin, Shropshire councillor for Clun, said sellers of suspicious booze are active in both Ludlow and Craven Arms, and are likely to travel to other towns.

He said: "Vodka is the most likely drink to be faked. The counterfeit is frequently adulterated with hazardous chemicals.

"At best these chemicals can make you feel ill, at worst they can send you into a coma.

"Common sense should tell you to be very wary of drink offered in such circumstances, especially if the label is unfamiliar.

"It is either fake, off the back of a lorry or both. Anyone offered alcohol under such circumstances should contact the police and trading standards before someone gets hurt."

Simon Blackburn, of the Local Government Association representing Trading Standards, said: "Drinking cheap, fake alcohol could seriously harm your health and even kill you."

He said that tell-tale signs of counterfeit booze to look out for were unfamiliar brand names, crooked labels, spelling mistakes and unusually low prices.

Today's warning in Shropshire comes as 130,000 litres of counterfeit vodka that could have made drinkers go blind was seized from an illegal alcohol factory an in Wigan.

Last month two bar owners in Consett, County Durham, were fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 after being caught selling fake vodka made from industrial alcohol unfit for human consumption.