A Greenford trader has been fined for selling dangerous beauty products after an investigation by Ealing Council’s trading standards officers.

Liyakat Tai, 33, pleaded guilty to four counts of selling illegal skin lightening creams in his shop, Beauty First on Greenford Broadway. He was fined £500 and ordered to pay £863 costs at Acton Magistrates Court on 24 July.

More than 150 dangerous skin lightening products were seized by council officers from the shop in April 2007.

People using the banned creams risk nasty rashes and serious burns caused by hydroquinone, a substance that has been illegal in the UK since 2001.

The creams removed from the shop were:

• - Skin Light Cream
• - Sivoclair lightening cream
• - Peau Claire
• - Clair Liss

Councillor Vlod Barchuk, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, said: “We are very pleased with the court’s decision. It is frightening to think of the risk people who bought these creams were put under.”

“Some people who have used creams like these will have suffered burns and rashes and it is unacceptable for traders to profit from putting others in danger.”

“We would urge anyone who buys this type of product to check the ingredients and throw away anything which contains hydroquinone. We will continue to carry out routine checks and inform traders in Ealing about the standards required to help ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Anyone who has bought creams containing hydroquinone should contact Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 and report it to save other residents from putting themselves at risk.