Thousands of wooden toy Noah’s Arks made in China are being recalled across Britain after excessive lead was found in paint.

The Toy Workshop, which has been marketing its own handmade designs for 12 years, sounded the alert after trading standards officers found the problem during a routine check.

A batch of 2,000 of the arks delivered this year from a factory in China was discovered to have lead paint levels above the British legal maximum.

The alarm comes amid growing world fears about the safety of Chinese toys. Mattel recently recalled two million examples of 71 types of toy imported to Britain from China because of dangerous levels of paint and loose magnets. But this is the first time a specialist British up-market toymaker has been affected by the problems.

The brightly coloured Noah’s Arks, promoted as educational toys, are one of the biggest sellers for the Toy Workshop, based in Shrewsbury. Characters featured include Noah, pairs of elephants, lions, zebras, monkeys, giraffes and crocodiles. There is a ladder to get them from the flood to the ark.

“Every product we sell is our own design,” Gary Woods, the workshop’s director, said. “They appeal to grand-parents and parents, the slightly more affluent, typical Times readers who can afford and are willing to pay that little bit more for a quality product that the child can collect and keep.”

Most of the arks went to TK Maxx stores, which have stripped them from shelves. But 500 went to stockists such as independent toy shops and The Toy Workshop wants all returned.

The batch concerned consists of medium and large arks selling for about £25 and £30. They were delivered to shops between February 13 and August 21. Mini-arks are safe, as are all arks bought before those dates.

The excess lead was discovered in a test by Trading Standards in Tyne and Wear. Shropshire Trading Standards has become involved in the case and there will be an inquiry into the cause.

The Toy Workshop said that most of its products were made previously in Sri Lanka. Growing demand led the company to start using manufacturers in China and the Far East too.

The Toy Workshop said this was the first time that there had been concerns about its toys. “We have instigated a thorough investigation,” Mr Woods said. “We have been to the factories, auditing and trying to find what has gone wrong and ensuring that the correct action is taken to safeguard future production, 100 per cent testing every product in production again to ensure it complies with the standard.”

Suspicion is pointing at a new factory that began making the two sizes of ark last year. “During production, our products have suffered from potential overspray,” Mr Woods said. Production at that factory has ceased.

Customers should bring the toys back to the shops for a refund or contact the Toy Workshop on 01743 350500. Returned arks are likely to be destroyed.

A series of safety scares has damaged China’s manufacturing reputation with one United States senator saying that all Chinese toys should be banned.

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