Being sold a short-lasting “very cheap Chinese” mobile phone battery has resulted in a disgruntled St Albans Market customer – and a council investigation.

There have been warnings aired on social media after a visitor to the market paid £30 for a genuine iPhone battery, but ended up with a ‘dodgy’ battery that stopped working just one week later.

The person took their mobile to a phone shop, where it was discovered that they had been sold a cheaper version.

When the alleged “wrongdoing” at a local stall was recently aired on Streetlife, a social network for local communities, one person replied that the market supervisor was “very concerned” about the complaint and would “follow it up with the trader concerned”.

The person who complained about the battery said that the frightening thing was that it did not have a ‘CE’ (European Conformity) symbol on it, and could have posed a health risk or potential fire hazard.

They urged others who may also have been sold the same type of battery to get it checked.

However, another person posted that to expect a market trader to supply a ‘genuine’ Apple product was ‘foolhardy’ as the firm provided its stores and had a network of authorised service providers.

They added: “You took a risk to save some money and that didn’t pay off. Learn from it.”

St Albans district council’s head of community services, Debbi White, said: “We have had a complaint that a market stallholder sold a customer a fake phone battery.

“This is a serious allegation and we are investigating. We have talked to the customer and stallholder and have not as yet reached any conclusion.

“It is clearly stated in our market regulations that traders are not permitted to sell counterfeit products. Any trader that does so will be permanently excluded from the market with a report being sent to Trading Standards.”