Primark, the popular discount clothes retailer, has been fined £15,000 for selling hooded tops that breached safety regulations.

The retailer was hauled before a district court after Trading Standards officers found a range of clothes that had cords through the neck on sale at two outlets in the North of England.

Free-running neck cords have been banned in childrens’ clothes in the UK since 1976 following a number of fatal accidents involving the cords getting caught in play equipment.

Primark’s solicitor argued that the clothes, which were on sale for between £4 and £6, were not intended for children and were therefore exempt from the regulations.

But Trading Standards officers were able to show that because of the size of the garments and their style, it was likely that children could and would wear them.

Primark, part of Associated British Foods, was convicted of 16 counts of breaching health and safety legislation and fined £8,000 - equal to £500 for each offence.

It was also ordered to pay £7,500 costs by a district judge at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The judge also ordered the destruction of the several hundred items that were seized by Trading Standards officers locally while other similar garments have been withdrawn from sale nationally.

Paul Dowling, director of development and enterprise at Gateshead Council, said: “These regulations have been in force since the 1970s and it is disappointing that a major national clothing retailer failed to take basic steps to ensure that the product was safe.”

Primark declined to comment.

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