Amazon found guilty of shipping dangerous flammable goods by plane in breach of air safety rules
Retail giant faces a hefty fine after sending hundreds of packages containing banned batteries and aerosols via air freight
AMAZON is facing a hefty fine after it was found guilty of shipping highly flammable items for transport by plane.
The online giant repeatedly breached safety regulations by giving the go-ahead for dangerous goods - flammable aerosols and potentially unstable lithium-ion batteries - to be delivered by air.
In the last ten weeks of 2013 Amazon attempted to send 334 unsuitable parcels via air freight - or roughly five a day, jurors heard.
All the parcels were intercepted by Royal Mail before they were placed on the plane.
The case was brought by the Civil Aviation Authority, which said the retail giant knew flammable items were being carried by air despite strict regulations.
United Nations rules prohibit the batteries from being sent by mail when not contained or packed.
A lithium ion battery was blamed for a fire that broke out in the cabin of a transatlantic Air France flight in 2010.
Three months earlier a UPS cargo plane crashed in Dubai, killing both crew members, which investigators said was caused by batteries spontaneously catching fire.
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Most of the Amazon packages involved in the allegations were to be sent via Royal Mail, with one of the aerosols set to be couriered by UPS.
Royal Mail discovered many of the illegal packages and highlighted the danger but Amazon failed to properly respond in certain cases, jurors found.
Prosecutor Martin Goudie told the court the sample charges represented "merely a few examples of further breaches" of the rules by Amazon.
He said: "This is not a one shop outfit who has got difficulty trying to stay on top of things.
"This is a big company who should be up to speed and have the resources."
The prosecutor said it was a "double failure" in that both "system and individual" errors were made.
The company claimed to have taken "all reasonable care" to prevent breaches bus was found guilty of four counts of causing dangerous goods to be delivered for carriage in an aircraft.
The company was cleared of a single count of the same charge, relating to a screen wash.
Amazon UK Services Ltd will be sentenced for the breaches on September 23.
After the verdict the CAA's general counsel Kate Staples said: "The safety of aviation and the public is paramount and that's why there are important international and domestic restrictions to prohibit the shipping of certain goods that pose a flight safety risk.
"These dangerous goods include lithium batteries, which are banned from being transported as mail or cargo on a passenger aircraft unless they are installed in or packed with equipment.
"We work closely with retailers and online traders to ensure they understand the regulations and have robust processes in place so their items can be shipped safely.
"Whenever issues are identified we work with companies to make sure those issues are addressed appropriately.
"But if improvements are not made, we have to consider enforcement action and, as this case demonstrates, we are determined to protect the public by enforcing the dangerous goods regulations."
An Amazon spokesman said: "The safety of the public, our customers, employees and partners is an absolute priority.
"We ship millions of products every week and are confident in the sophisticated technologies and processes we have developed to detect potential shipping hazards.
"We are constantly working to further improve and will continue to work with the CAA in this area."
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