A BUSINESSMAN who was fined for selling illegal goods including toy water pistols and children's colouring chalk has lost an appeal against the sentence and had some of the fines increased.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, who heard the appeal along with two magistrates at Bradford Crown Court today, said Ashvin Rana, 48, of Papa's Cash and Carry, had "an utterly selfish and callous attitude" towards the public and his customers.

The judge described Rana's previous convictions for similar breaches of safety regulations, including the sale of of dangerous children's dummies, as appalling and added:"Clearly you are prepared to risk customers' safety.

"You are not fit, Mr Rana with great respect, to be in the trade you've chosen and we are very happy to hear that you are seeking, if you are to be believed, to withdraw from this trade."

During the appeal hearing Rana represented himself and told the judge that he had to sell cheap items because people in the area would not buy expensive products.

Rana said he had no problem with West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTSS) officers, but he claimed to have bought the illegal items from reputable suppliers and said he had not had customer complaints.

During exchanges with the judge, Rana said he was "fed up" and just wanted to close his business. Judge Durham Hall described him as a danger to the public and said he hadn't got a clue about his responsibilities.

"You cannot pass the blame Mr Rana," said the judge.

Last month Rana was fined £1,600 on each of eight charges relating to safety regulation breaches.

The magistrates heard that WYTSS had removed about 7,000 products from the shelves at his firm's two premises in Leeds Road and Cottom Avenue, Listerhills, Bradford.

Today Judge Durham Hall told Rana that the £1,600 fine was absolutely right for four of the offences, but the fine for the four offences relating to children's toys should have been £2,000 each.

Judge Durham Hall said the toy safety regulations were very important.

"This isn't Big Brother imposing stupid regulation on hardworking honest people. This is the State seeking to protect against unscrupulous tradesmen who purely for profit sell potentially very dangerous material especially to children," he stressed.

The judge noted that it was the fourth time that Rana had been before the courts for serious matters and he said the latest breaches had been blatant offending which was only mitigated by his guilty pleas.

The judge told Rana that it had been a hopeless appeal against the sentence and he was lucky he was not being sent to prison again.

Rana was jailed in 2008 for selling dangerous children’s dummies and in 2010 he was found guilty of running an unsafe warehouse.

The court heard that Rana will still have to pay the costs imposed on him for the case before the magistrates court as well as a further £600 in costs for the appeal hearing.