Onliner retailer Container Door fined $54,000 for selling unsafe bikes

The bike Container Door sold did not meet mandatory safety standards.

Bulk goods retailer Container Door has been fined $54,0000 for selling unsafe push bikes, following an investigation by the Commerce Commission.

The Auckland-based online retailer has pleaded guilty to two charges under the Fair Trading Act for the supply of bikes that did not meet mandatory product safety standards.

Between April and November 23, 2017, Container Door supplied 15 Huffy Cruiser bicycles that did not have a front brake and which were sold without a marking from the manufacturer and with packaging that did not include a warning to recommend that the bike be assembled by a skilled mechanic.

In sentencing at the Auckland District Court, Judge David Sharp said the supply of unsafe bikes by Container Door was "highly careless" and that "cyclists are vulnerable".

"To supply bicycles that do not comply with safety standards is something I regard as serious," Sharp said.

He said Container Door was co-operative with the Commerce Commission and had recalled the bikes.

The Herald understands 10 of the 15 bikes were returned.

Container Door sought a discharge without conviction but Judge Sharp declined to enter it, saying the consequences of a conviction were not out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending.

Commerce Commission general manager of competition and consumer, Antonia Horrocks, said "Container Door was supplying bikes that put riders, pedestrians and road users at risk of serious harm because there was no front brake".

This impeded a rider's ability to stop and control their bike.

"It is important for traders to know their legal obligations and to operate compliance programmes to ensure they comply with the law," she said.

More to come.