Lockwood shop sells cigarettes to a child
Friday 5 May
On 4th May 2023, Mr Bawan Rassoul from Huddersfield appeared at Kirklees Magistrates Court regarding the sale of cigarettes to a child under the age of 18 from his business Mero’s Mini-market Ltd, 254 Lockwood Road, Huddersfield, HD2 3TG. Mr Rassoul pleaded guilty to the company committing the offence under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and was fined £660 reduced to £440 for a guilty plea. He was also ordered to pay a surcharge of £176 and pay costs of £1599.79. Mr Rassoul also pleaded guilty charged with permitting the sale of cigarettes to persons under the age of 18 through his business.
The case was launched after West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service (WYTSS) received complaints about the premises selling cigarettes to underage children. In September 2022 a 15-year-old volunteer entered the shop, under the supervision of a Trading Standards Officer, and asked to buy a pack of Richmond cigarettes. The seller, Mr Rassoul said he had no Richmond cigarettes available but gave the volunteer the option to buy other brands which he had. She was able to buy a packet of Sterling Superking Original Red cigarettes for £12.29, without being challenged about her age or asked for any form of ID by the seller. It is an offence to sell cigarettes to a person under the age of 18.
Mr Rassoul, the Director of the business was interviewed later. In his mitigation he stated that he thought the test purchaser was 18/19 years old, and her confidence and manner suggested she was over 18. He believed he had taken all reasonable precautions and apologised in the statement for his poor judgement.
David Strover, Trading Standards Manager - Business Services Team said, “the flagrant sale of cigarettes to children just should not be happening within our communities. We wrote to this business to make them aware of complaints we had received and informed them a test purchase may follow. The health risks associated with tobacco are considerable and shops need to ensure they have systems in place to avoid selling tobacco to minors. Trading Standards will continue to investigate allegations and make test purchases to reduce the prevalence of this issue. I would like to thank all the partners and members of the public for reporting illegal sales and encourage everyone to continue doing so to reduce the harm caused by tobacco in our communities.”
Consumers wishing to report illegal trading practices, including the sale of age restricted goods to children can call the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133 to report their concerns - this can be done anonymously.