Expanding a bit on Beeper's question about donating toys to charity...

Not necessarily that wise because they have to reach fire and safety regulation if not a child could be injured or even killed. They could also cause a fire if they are not sufficiently fire retardant leading to the loss of property that the organisations are trying to help.

so for the safety of all those that would receive these gifts it is better to be safe than sorry.

I think its more to do with the laws covering the retail of toys which a lot of older toys do not conform to, this is why some charity shops will not accept electrical items.

The refusal is definitely to do with compliance with safety laws. I think all toys have to have the CE mark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark copy

Wierd, isn't it - but it's perfectly alright for a parent to extract an unsafe toy from their loft storage and give it to their little 'un (in all innocence), but the charity retailers have to turn away those sorts of toys due to H&S laws. Possibly also from fear of litigation, too.

Why do we have charities for this or that when there is so many rules about what they are collecting in the first place. Nanny State. It is a wonder how we survived before all these rules.Toy soldiers comes to mind.
Watched Ester Ranson on about helping children in need. It broke my heart how many passed the two children actors before anyone would stop to ask them if they were ok. Every-one now is frightened to speak or help children. I know we needed to safe guard our children but this has gone too far both for the child and adults. I don,t reckonise the tag on toys. Someones loved teddy cannot be so dangerous Why or Why is the west going mad on rules.