FIRST they copied £10 notes, then tapes, videos, Louis Vuitton bags, Levi jeans and Nike trainers. Now the counterfeiters have a new line: bin bags.

This time it’s the high-quality brand name of Westminster council that is being undermined and police are investigating a fraud that has become widespread across the West End of London. It started in 1997, when the council introduced a pre-paid scheme selling official bin bags to commercial customers for 84p, which covered not just the cost of the bag, but also the charge for collecting and disposing of the rubbish. The distinctive grey bags, marked with a Westminster council logo, now bring in around £10 million a year.

However, counterfeiters quickly spotted a gap in the market. They realised they could produce look-alike bags cheaply, sell them for less than the official price and make a very healthy profit.

Westminster council was alerted to the scam when a commercial customer told of an approach by the counterfeiters selling the pirate bin bags.

“It’s becoming quite widespread in the West End. They are lesser quality, and the writing is poor quality — the bags we make are much higher quality,” said a council spokesman. The council, which says that its waste disposal policy is being undermined by the scam, is tackling it with the determination of a music industry mogul facing falling sales because of piracy.

As well as calling in police, it has launched a surveillance operation with CCTV, and has sent a mailshot to businesses warning them that even if they buy the bags unwittingly they are committing a criminal offence and liable to a fine of up to £2,500. It is has also sent a free official sample bin bag to local businesses, so they can learn to distinguish it from the fake ones, and set up a hotline for informants.

Judith Warner, the Westminster councillor with responsibility for bin bags, said: “Unless refuse sacks are obtained from an authorised council source, they are counterfeit. We are determined to stamp out this abuse. These cheats will force up costs for all those businesses who play fair.”

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