O.T. - well, just a little

[Yvonne]

More worthwhile than your average petition.....

Help stop these imported fakes from proliferating.

Please circulate if you support this.

[alan_m]

What's fake about a spring trap? This appears to be a petition started by a UK trap manufacturer seeking to restrict competition.

It's nothing to do with animal welfare as it's not a petition to ban the use of traps.

[John Rumm]

Na, much more fun to diy your own trap ;-)

[whisky-dave]

That's what yuo do when the EU fails isn't it.

[Huge]

[Thinks]Must go and check the traps in the workshop.

[Bazza]

I know the OP and she has no connection with a manufacturer. She inadvertantly bought one counterfeit trap from some scoundrel on Ebay who tried to pass it off by hijacking a well known brand name.

The genuine brands are Fenn, Solway and Springer. The counterfeit ones on Ebay come from China and are poorly made with weak springs. The scoundrel passes them off as Fenns!

All spring traps (apart from those for rats and mice) must be type-approved by DEFRA. The Chinese ones have not been approved. It is illegal to use unapproved traps but not illegal to sell them.

The OP should have explained it better.

[dennis]

So no change in law is required then, someone needs to persecute the seller for misrepresenting the product. So the petition is a waste of everyone's time.

[John Rumm]

Shock horror, dodgy goods on ebay, who would have thought?

So what type of trap are they talking about then?

What's the point if its illegal to use them?

Make them illegal to sell and the seller won't have a problem since they are selling Fenns - honest guv!

Who is going to do all the enforcement anyway?

and need to find a new hobby!

[Andy Burns]

Searching eBay for "fenn trap" the only items cheaper than (apparently) genuine ones are guides to spotting fake ones ... which is not a bad technique (presumably by people like-minded with the O/P) given a lot of people will sort by price+P&P when buying.

[whisky-dave]

according to those here no one. Which is why I'll say again the college finance people won't less us use ebay.

unapproved ones I thought.

Lots of idiots even those on here think that if someting can be brought it means it's legal. Even one of our academics bropguht two 8GB ipods for his kids, trouble was they didnlt come fromn Apple but someone that had flashed the display of 2GB iPods to read 8GB.

But of course there's a lot of braindead on here that will say I'm wrong . So they don't waste their time yet again making fools of themselves yet again.

Trading standards and customs I'd have thought.

[John Rumm]

Unapproved for trapping *what*?

In your dreams...

[alan_m]

And why making selling these traps illegal is going to make any difference what so ever especially as these sellers are so blatantly breaking other laws.

[Bazza]

If it becomes illegal to sell them, then Ebay will not allow them to be listed.

Because it is not illegal to sell them, Ebay is keen to take its fees and commissions