A champagne scam which threatened to leave the borough's bubbly drinkers feeling flat has been foiled.

Trading standards officers this week seized 22 fake bottles of Bollinger vintage champagne during raids on three small independent off-licences in Wandsworth and Battersea.

The shops were offering the bogus bubbly in magnums for as much as £80 a bottle - but they were filled with a variety of cheap sparkling wines, including Spanish cava and Italian prosecco worth about £6 a bottle.

Officers swooped on the stores, which cannot be named due to an ongoing investigation, after receiving a tip off from the company behind the world famous Bollinger brand.

Trading standards investigators stressed the fake bottles have only been found in these three small shops, and no major retailers, supermarkets or other stockists are thought to be affected.

However, they are warning customers to carefully check the bottles before purchasing Bollinger.

Wandsworth Council’s consumer protection spokeswoman, Councillor Sarah McDermott, said: “Anyone spending their hard earned money on a bottle of Bollinger would have been left feeling pretty flat if they'd ended up with a cheap bottle of sparking wine instead, so I'm delighted that we have been able to work with the company to crack this little con.

“If anyone thinks they may have fallen victim to the counterfeiters they should to contact trading standards as soon as possible so that we can check whether the bottles are fakes or not.”

Andrew Hawes, managing director Bollinger's agents in the UK, Mentzendorff & Co, said: “To date the quantity of stock involved is very small and no existing trade customers of ours have been approached.

"We would like to assure our regular customers that there is absolutely no danger that they could mistake this stock for the real thing - the labels being poor-quality photocopies that have been applied to stripped-down bottles of cheap sparkling wine sourced from across the Channel.”

The owners of the three retailers involved are currently assisting trading standards officers with their investigation.

To contact a trading standards officer call 020 8871 7720 or email tradingstandards@wandsworth.gov.uk. Alternatively call Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or visit consumerdirect.gov.uk.

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