Olympic toymaker Golden Bear in sweat shop row

Toymaker Golden Bear has launched an urgent investigation into claims its official Olympic mascots are being made by workers on a pittance in a Chinese sweat shop.

The firm, based at Hortonwood, Telford, uses a Far East factory to make Wenlock and Mandeville dolls.

The cuddly toys cost between £15 and £20 to buy.

But a labour group claims workers at the Yancheng Rainbow Arts and Crafts Company in Jiangsu prov-ince are paid as little as 26p an hour to its workers, who often work 11-hour days.

Undercover investigators from Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, based in Hong Kong, claim the workers get just 18p per toy while the finished product is sold for more than 100 times that.

John Hales, chairman of Golden Bear, today said the firm only worked with companies approved by industry watchdog, the International Council of Toy Industries.

A company statement said:?"We are extremely concerned about reports that a factory involved in a small amount of the production of the company's Olympic product could be in breach of workers' rights.

"We are a family-run business that takes these issues very seriously indeed and has in place certificates of compliance at all factories used to produce our products. We are in the process of conducting an immediate investigation."

Lord Coe's London 2012 Organising Committee is also investigating the claims.

By Jason Lavan and Wayne Beese