Firm fined over 'stab-proof' vest

The firm was selling converted ex-German army shrapnel vests

A company based in Suffolk which sold thousands of vests falsely described as "stab-proof" has been fined £20,000 at Ipswich Magistrates' Court.

Kombat UK, of Brome, admitted 13 offences relating to the safety of equipment and breaches of the Trade Descriptions Act.

The firm has a warehouse at Brome near Eye, and a retail outlet in Ipswich.

Suffolk Trading Standards officers said the firm wrongly called the vests "stab-proof" and "licensed".

The company was found to be selling converted ex-German army shrapnel vests and advertising them as stab vests.

The company claimed the stab vests were equivalent to the KR1 standard, a safety standard used to test police stab vests for knife resistance.

In December 2007 the two stab vests purchased by Trading Standards were submitted to the Home Office Scientific Development Branch for testing.

'Items off the streets'

Both stab vests failed against the requirements of the KR1 standard with test blades penetrating the stab vests by in excess of 40mm, 7mm being the maximum penetration allowed by the standard.

The company worked closely with trading standards to recall the vests.

Over a three-year period Kombat UK sold about 3,000 of the vests, the vast majority through eBay and the company website.

The company was also ordered to pay £2,995 in costs.

Councillor Joanna Spicer, portfolio holder for public protection with Suffolk County Council, said: "Many people, including nightclub bouncers, have purchased these vests in order to protect themselves while at work only to find out that they have wasted their money on something which is useless."