Tourists charged £899 for two packs of sweets at Oxford St candy store - before staff flee through secret tunnel
1 May 2025, 16:29 | Updated: 1 May 2025, 16:43
Tourists visiting an Oxford St candy store have been charged £899 for two packs of sweets - an incident which saw fleeing shop staff ultimately lead police to a stash of fake goods.
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Westminster Council were contacted after disgruntled tourists were charged the staggering sum after visiting the retailer, located at 399A Oxford street, on the weekend of April 12.
Unhappy with being charged the eye-watering total, the tourists later retuned with police officers to demand a refund - which they were eventually granted.
The store was then targeted in a police raid, with the force descending on the store on April 25.
However, when Met Police officers, joined by council workers, arrived at the premises to question staff, the two shop workers fled on foot through a secret tunnel located in the back of the store.
Met officers pursued the shop staff downstairs, with the workers then attempting to make their escape through a secret exit hidden behind a panel in the basement.
It's there the force discovered the escape route that led back up to street level.
The pair also led police to a secret room containing an estimated £80,000 of counterfeit goods.
Hidden behind camouflaged wall drapes, the seizure comprised of thousands of items, including American candy and other food stuffs, cigarettes, single use vapes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco.
A haul of fake travel adaptors and power banks were also recovered in the raid.
One of countless stores to descend on the famous shopping precinct in recent years, it's the latest retailer to be busted by the Met for selling counterfeit goods.
The raid is now understood to have uncovered the largest haul of suspected fake and unsafe goods discovered at a store on Oxford Street so far.
Adam Hug, Labour leader of Westminster City Council, said: “We have known for a long time that US candy stores rip off customers, but charging £900 for two packets of sweets is a new low, even for the unscrupulous people who run these rackets.
“Our job is to protect people who visit the West End from being exploited and continuing raids and court appearances will ensure life is sour for the rogue US sweet shop trade.
“Hopefully, the fall in the number of US candy and souvenir shops means the tide is going out on this tatty trade.”
Earlier raids on a nearby candy store saw officers seize £107k of 'illegal goods' including bags of vapes and shisha.
It follows a series of raids led by Westminster City Council in June of 2022, which saw £600K of illegal goods seized across nine stores.
Now, the council has vowed there will be "no Happy New Year for unscrupulous traders", as more than 6,500 disposable vapes with excessive levels of nicotine were seized.
The January 19 raid also saw 145 cosmetic products taken citing a lack of adequate labelling.
