A PRIORY shopping centre store has been hit with a £7,040 bill after more than 300 fake designer clothes were seized by trading standards officers.

Mohan Lal, aged 41, who runs Priya Fashions in partnership with his wife, pleaded guilty to three charges of selling faked designer goods and seven counts of possessing counterfeit items.

The items of clothing were discovered by Kent Trading Standards' officers carrying out a test purchase exercise at the Dartford shop in April last year.

Officers bought a T-shirt bearing a Ted Baker logo and a handbag with a Louis Vuitton monogram design.

They sent the items to the trademark owners, which confirmed the clothes were not genuine products.

In June last year officers purchased a top bearing the French Connection (FCUK) logo which was also discovered to be a fake.

They returned in July and seized more than 300 items from the shop.

The court heard how Lal's wife paid for the stock after being approached in the shop by a man claiming he ran a similar business which had to shut down.

He told her he had to sell the remaining stock quickly as he was in financial difficulty.

Prosecutor Myles Gibbons, who represented Kent Trading Standards, said father-of-three Lal, of North Cray Road, Bexley, did not check whether the stock was genuine.

He said an aggravating factor in the case was a wide range of company trade marks were infringed, including Playboy, Gucci and Burberry.

Victoria Hart, mitigating, said Lal, who owns two other shops in Orpington and Bromley, buys all the stock while his wife worked full-time in the shop.

She said: "He is a buyer, it's not something his wife would normally become involved with.

"Mr Lal never actually saw the stock himself because he had not been to the Dartford shop.

"The first he knew of the matter was when trading standards contacted him."

She added: "He admits he did not check the items.

"He has had his shop for 15 years. I understand it has become part of the community."

Lal was ordered to pay £600 for each separate charge, totalling £6,000, and £1,040 costs.

Consideration was given for his early guilty plea. Lal received a caution from Kent Trading Standards.

The counterfeit clothes will be destroyed.