A Slough firm will have to fork out hundreds of thousands of pounds after it sold counterfeit licence plate holders on eBay.

Its directors will also have to pay tens of thousands of pounds from their own pockets after admitting to money laundering offences.

Reading Crown Court heard how Kazimiera Swiniarska, 48, and Marcin Wdowiak, 41, directors of Solas Sales Limited, sourced fake number plate holders from Poland.

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The Slough pair sold fake BMW, Mercedes, Vauxhall, Land Rover, Honda and Volkswagen goods on eBay and Amazon.

It was heard that the pair made more than £300,000 from selling these items, which retailed for between £7.99 and £16.99.

However, their operation was exposed when BMW started investigating the counterfeit products.

They made three test purchases through eBay and in person.

This resulted in Trading Standards officers inspecting the Farnham Road warehouse of Solas in November 2017, when they found 3,388 fake number plates.

Emma King, prosecuting, said Wdowiak ‘made no checks’ on the legitimacy of the products and Swiniarska claimed she was ‘not aware it was illegal to sell these products’ in interviews.

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They pleaded guilty to their offences in July 2021.

Justin Rivett, defending for Wdowiak and Solas, said the company and the 41-year-old were not counterfeiting the products themselves and that Wdowiak accepted he should have done due diligence.

Her Honour Judge Nott, sentencing, said she accepted Solas was a legitimate company [that also sells slippers, rope and other products on eBay] that made an illegitimate trade.

She said: “I’m treating this as a reckless rather than a deliberate breach of the trademark act.

“This was a company that was set up with a legitimate purpose.

“It is a by-and-large well run company and throughout the entirety of the indictment period, 90 per cent of operations have been legitimate products.”

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However, she said the fine she imposed must be seen as a deterrent for other companies.

Solas Sales Limited was ordered to pay £292,000 in confiscation fees and fined £10,000 after conviction for five counts of selling goods that had a sign likely to be mistaken for a registered trademark, four counts of possession of counterfeit goods, and two counts of transferring criminal property.

Wdowiak was ordered to pay £16,000 in confiscation fees, £21,000 in court costs and fined £5,000 for four counts of consenting or conniving in relation to the possession of counterfeit goods and one count of transferring criminal property.

Swiniarska was ordered to pay £10,000 in confiscation fees, £21,000 in court costs and fined £5,000 for four counts of consenting or conniving in relation to the possession of counterfeit goods and one count of transferring criminal property.

The fees must be paid in three months or Wdowiak and Swiniarska will serve a four-month prison sentence.

The pair and the company were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, April 1.