Court fines Amazon £65k for trying to send dangerous goods by air

Amazon has been fined £65,000 for trying to ship dangerous goods by air, including batteries and flammable aerosols.

The online retail giant was sentenced after being found guilty of four aviation regulation charges at Southwark Crown Court earlier this week.

Items involved included lithium ion batteries - the kind that can be used as spares for mobile phones and tablets - as well as a small can of Dove deodorant and Tresemme hair mousse.

Martin Goudie, prosecuting, told the court: "Under the right circumstances the batteries, even new, undamaged batteries, could overheat, potentially causing burns, explosion or a fire."

Judge Michael Grieve said there were "few and comparatively minor contraventions".

He said the jury verdict reflected "findings of systemic failure, albeit as a result of human error".

The judge added that he had to take into account the "massive resources of the company".

Amazon UK Services - the subsidiary that was the subject of the prosecution - had turnover of just under £1bn in 2015, and made a profit of £38m.

Charges covered four shipments between January 2014 and June 2015.

Amazon was cleared of one other charge while a jury failed to reach a verdict on six others.

The items were discovered when cargoes were screened by Royal Mail (LSE: RMG.L - news) ahead of their intended departures and seized before they could reach the aircraft.

Amazon UK Services was prosecuted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for breaching aviation regulations.

The court heard Amazon tried to ship a lithium ion battery to Jersey on a day before 7 January 2014, and a flammable gas aerosol to Romania on a similar date.

Another shipment, destined for Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) on a day before 17 July that year, contained another aerosol, while Amazon illegally tried to send two more lithium ion batteries to Northern Ireland between 12 May and 3 June last year.

From 2013, Royal Mail had sent letters to Amazon about possible breaches of the warning.

Amazon said in a statement after the guilty verdict that safety was an "absolute priority", it was confident in the processes it had developed to detect potential shipping hazards, and would continue to work with the CAA.

The company came under fire over its UK tax bill last year when it emerged it had paid just £11.9m in taxes while taking £5.3bn in sales.

Last year, Amazon's global annual sales surpassed $100bn (£77bn) for the first time.