FAKE designer gear seized in a raid in East Lancashire is being passed on to charity.

Branded clothes, watches, videos, shoes and perfume worth £7million were grabbed by Trading Standards officers during a raid in Rossendale.

Big-name fashion brands faked included Ralph Lauren, Yves St Laurent, Burberry, Reebok, Armani, Polo and French Connection.

Lancashire County Council plans to hand over the goods, minus the fake brand labels, to charities in the hope that they can be put to good use.

Jim Potts, chief trading standards officer at Lancashire County Council, said: "Some local authorities still send seized goods to landfill sites but we're going to cut out the illegal labels and pass them on to charity so they can help someone.

"Counterfeit goods is a trade we have to stamp out. We believe it costs 1,000 jobs in the North West every year and takes about £750m from legitimate traders.

"The goods are usually not of top quality but are perfectly serviceable. Some are dangerous and we will be getting rid of these ourselves."

Local charities will get first pick of the goods, followed by national charities such as the Birth Defects Foundation.

Mr Potts added: "That £7million of goods came from one raid shows the scale of the problem."

This year's raids by Lancashire County Council have been so successful that the department has had to hire extra warehouse space to store seized goods.

Among other goods seized this year are 300 settees which did not pass fire safety tests.