Police have been accused of getting their sums wrong when they swooped on a shopkeeper's business and seized a cache of gun-shaped calculators - because they feared they could be used in a robbery.

The 30 calculators were among a haul of toy guns confiscated by police in a raid on a warehouse in Sherborne, Dorset, which is owned by shopkeeper Mark Ashley Miller.

Mr Ashley-Miller, who runs the gift shop The Present Finder, was stunned when officers descended on his warehouse and confiscated £1,140 of stock.

They were seized after someone saw the toys on sale on The Present Finder's website and made a complaint to firearms police.

Detectives are currently in the process of assessing the 'weapons' to decide whether they must be destroyed or returned to the shop.

The £6.50 'gun' calculator is in the form of a black pistol but clearly has a calculator keypad on the butt and an LCD display on the barrel. The user has to pull the trigger to calculate their sum.

There is an image of James Bond on the packaging along with the slogans ‘the quantum of sums’, ‘live and let divide’ and ‘licence to add up.’

Mr Ashley-Miller said two ‘burly’ police officers turned up at his premises and confiscated the toys, telling him it was illegal to sell a realistic imitation firearm under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 before carrying £1,140 worth of stock to their police car.

The 49-year-old, who has run The Present Finder in Sherborne with his wife Fiona for 11 years, said: 'It seems to me like an enormous waste of police time. We have been selling these toys for more than a year and we’ve never had any complaints about them.

'As far as I know they have never been mistaken for a real weapon. They are toys. They’re a bit silly and a bit quirky and children like them.

'When two burly policemen turned up in uniform and said ‘hand them over,’ we thought it must be a joke at first.

'There was no discussion, no questions at all - they just said they were taking them away. They just picked them up from the shop and put them in the boot of their car.

'They didn’t seem to know what they were going to do with them and I don’t even know if they left a receipt. They said there had been a complaint and due to the nature of it - that we were selling dangerous weapons - they were going to have to seize them.

'It left us aghast. It just seems a waste of time for police to come all the way out to seize perfectly legal, innocent toys. We’ve told our suppliers and they were pretty flabbergasted as well.

'If these toys are going to be classified as dangerous weapons then are we going to have to go back to all the poor children who got them for Christmas and say "sorry you may be having fun but we’re going to have to take that away from you"?'

The father-of-two said he did not know if and when he was going to get his stock back.

As well as the 6.50 calculator guns, the police also seized 10 toy shotguns that retail at 89.99 pounds each.

Tanya Prangnell, general manager of the shop, said: 'The police told us that in a lot of burglaries, a fake gun is used.'

Sergeant Ged Want, from Sherborne Police, said: 'Officers attended the Present Finder to liaise with staff and the two products were seized by us.

'We are in the process of liaising with our firearms licensing department in Dorchester to confirm the exact details of those weapons.

'It has not yet been decided how we are going to take it forward. The actual gun does look quite realistic. It may be that, on receipt of advice, we find there’s not a problem and they can be returned.

'Or they may be committing an offence. It’s always difficult to work out if our time is being wasted.

'If we have concerns over a potential imitation weapon then we have to act. If it gets in the hands of someone who wants to use it in an illegal act, then it’s not wasting our time.'

An advert for the gun calculator on the Present Finder website reads: 'Be a Special Ops operative "licensed to add up" in the office with the coolest, fully working novelty gun-shaped calculator.

'With the special ops gun calculator, your friends and work colleagues will be envious as you strut your stuff around the office, ready to whip out your "piece" when someone is in need of a nifty calculation, an incredibly nifty mathematical instrument!'

The toys have been temporarily removed from sale, although 370 of them have already been bought by customers.

PopsFrost wrote:

Police have been accused of getting their sums wrong when they swooped on a shopkeeper's business and seized a cache of gun-shaped calculators - because they feared they could be used in a robbery.

The 30 calculators were among a haul of toy guns confiscated by police in a raid on a warehouse in Sherborne, Dorset, which is owned by shopkeeper Mark Ashley Miller.

Mr Ashley-Miller, who runs the gift shop The Present Finder, was stunned when officers descended on his warehouse and confiscated £1,140 of stock.

They were seized after someone saw the toys on sale on The Present Finder's website and made a complaint to firearms police.

Detectives are currently in the process of assessing the 'weapons' to decide whether they must be destroyed or returned to the shop.

The £6.50 'gun' calculator is in the form of a black pistol but clearly has a calculator keypad on the butt and an LCD display on the barrel. The user has to pull the trigger to calculate their sum.

There is an image of James Bond on the packaging along with the slogans ‘the quantum of sums’, ‘live and let divide’ and ‘licence to add up.’

Mr Ashley-Miller said two ‘burly’ police officers turned up at his premises and confiscated the toys, telling him it was illegal to sell a realistic imitation firearm under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 before carrying £1,140 worth of stock to their police car.

The 49-year-old, who has run The Present Finder in Sherborne with his wife Fiona for 11 years, said: 'It seems to me like an enormous waste of police time. We have been selling these toys for more than a year and we’ve never had any complaints about them.

'As far as I know they have never been mistaken for a real weapon. They are toys. They’re a bit silly and a bit quirky and children like them.

'When two burly policemen turned up in uniform and said ‘hand them over,’ we thought it must be a joke at first.

'There was no discussion, no questions at all - they just said they were taking them away. They just picked them up from the shop and put them in the boot of their car.

'They didn’t seem to know what they were going to do with them and I don’t even know if they left a receipt. They said there had been a complaint and due to the nature of it - that we were selling dangerous weapons - they were going to have to seize them.

'It left us aghast. It just seems a waste of time for police to come all the way out to seize perfectly legal, innocent toys. We’ve told our suppliers and they were pretty flabbergasted as well.

'If these toys are going to be classified as dangerous weapons then are we going to have to go back to all the poor children who got them for Christmas and say "sorry you may be having fun but we’re going to have to take that away from you"?'

The father-of-two said he did not know if and when he was going to get his stock back.

As well as the 6.50 calculator guns, the police also seized 10 toy shotguns that retail at 89.99 pounds each.

Tanya Prangnell, general manager of the shop, said: 'The police told us that in a lot of burglaries, a fake gun is used.'

Sergeant Ged Want, from Sherborne Police, said: 'Officers attended the Present Finder to liaise with staff and the two products were seized by us.

'We are in the process of liaising with our firearms licensing department in Dorchester to confirm the exact details of those weapons.

'It has not yet been decided how we are going to take it forward. The actual gun does look quite realistic. It may be that, on receipt of advice, we find there’s not a problem and they can be returned.

'Or they may be committing an offence. It’s always difficult to work out if our time is being wasted.

'If we have concerns over a potential imitation weapon then we have to act. If it gets in the hands of someone who wants to use it in an illegal act, then it’s not wasting our time.'

An advert for the gun calculator on the Present Finder website reads: 'Be a Special Ops operative "licensed to add up" in the office with the coolest, fully working novelty gun-shaped calculator.

'With the special ops gun calculator, your friends and work colleagues will be envious as you strut your stuff around the office, ready to whip out your "piece" when someone is in need of a nifty calculation, an incredibly nifty mathematical instrument!'

The toys have been temporarily removed from sale, although 370 of them have already been bought by customers.

Just finish them off all around, Estrogen shots for everyone, mandate it now!

pippin wrote:

The plod of today have become jittery, to add to there known stupidity.

Bat2 wrote:

I had to get permits to use these rubber guns in my security and defense classes I teach in mexico. Now I just use the all red or yellow ones to avoid hassles.

whizz2 wrote:

Bat2 wrote:

I had to get permits to use these rubber guns in my security and defense classes I teach in mexico. Now I just use the all red or yellow ones to avoid hassles.

You mean ducks, right?