Huddersfield traders guilty of selling illegal Vapes to 15-year-old child
Wednesday 12 July
On 7th July 2023, Mrs Ruqueya Iqbal who trades as Cloud Empire, 3 Church Lane, Newsome, Huddersfield, HD4 6JE & Mr Amreek Singh, Director of Elite E-cigs Ltd, from Stretford, Manchester trading as The Vape Store, 6 Market Place, Huddersfield, HD1 2AN, appeared separately at Kirklees Magistrates Court to each answer a charge of selling an e-cigarette to a 15-year-old child. It is an offence to sell an e-cigarette to anyone under 18. The e-cigarettes were also illegal as they were oversized containing more than the permitted 2ml of nicotine liquid. Both Mrs Iqbal and Mr Singh pleaded guilty to the offences committed under the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015, The Children and Families Act 2014 and the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
For Mrs Iqbal the Magistrates said that the penalty for selling an oversized e-cigarette is greater and therefore they would be focusing their penalties on this. They explained that the case could go to Crown Court where an unlimited fine could be imposed. Consequently, Mrs Iqbal was fined £500 for the e-cigarette tank exceeding the legal volume of 2ml. She was also ordered to pay a surcharge of £200, costs of £985.75 to West Yorkshire Trading Standards and legal costs of £300 to Kirklees Council, a total of £1985.75.
Elite E-cigs Ltd was fined £500 for the sale of the non-compliant e-cigarette and was ordered to pay £2075 in prosecution costs and a £200 victim surcharge.
Both businesses were known to West Yorkshire Trading Standard Service (WYTSS) with the service having received numerous complaints about these premises selling age restricted products to children and selling non-compliant e-cigarettes.
Both sales occurred in September 2022 when the volunteer entered the individual shops, under the supervision of a Trading Standards Officer and asked to buy an e-cigarette. In both instances the volunteer was sold oversized e-cigarettes without being challenged about their age or asked for any form of ID by the individual sellers.
David Strover, Trading Standards Manager - Business Services Team said, “the flagrant sale of vapes to children just should not be happening within our communities. We wrote to these businesses to make them aware of complaints we had received and informed them a test purchase may follow. The health risks associated with juvenile use of vapes should not be underestimated. Vapes are an adult product suitable for ex-smokers – their sale to, and use by, children is not acceptable. Shops need to ensure they have systems in place to avoid selling vapes to minors and train their staff accordingly. 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 and vapes in our communities.”
Councillor Habiban Zaman, member of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee which oversees the work of Trading Standards said “it is clearly irresponsible not to check the age of teenage customers wanting to purchase age restricted goods. Test purchases are undertaken regularly by Trading Standards staff to ensure shops adhere to the law on vapes, tobacco and alcohol sales. The simple task of asking for identification and verifying the age of younger customers will help to reduce underage vaping and tobacco use.”
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.