Council crack down on underage and illegal vape sales

Blackburn with Darwen borough council Trading Standards team have been busy putting put premises to the test when it comes to vapes, by undertaking two separate operations to tackle the sale of underage and illegal vapes.

It is illegal to sell vapes to children under 18. To ensure the borough’s businesses comply with the law, Trading Standards regularly test the systems that businesses have in place to prevent sales of age restricted products to children. They do this by working with a volunteer, under the age of 18, who enters premises and tries to purchase a vape.

Target premises are chosen based on complaints received from the public. The volunteer wears a covert camera and to comply with surveillance law, premises are warned with a letter from the Trading Standards team beforehand. 10-15 premises are usually targeted during an operation.

On Wednesday 15 May, an operation was undertaken across Blackburn and Darwen with 12 premises targeted. The volunteer, aged 14, entered the premises with an officer standing nearby who could hear everything via an open phone line. The volunteer asked the salesperson if they could buy a vape however if they were asked for ID, they said they couldn’t produce one. In this case, they should be refused the sale.

Out of the 12 premises, 11 refused to sell a vape to the volunteer, however 1 chose not to challenge the young person and sold them a vape. This business was immediately visited by a Trading Standards officer who notified them of their law break and will now attempt to bring the owner and staff to compliance, either by asking them to attend a training course, or working with them to ensure they get the correct systems in place. If the business continues to fail test purchases, further enforcement action can be taken which could result in a prosecution and a £2,500 fine.  

Councillor Jim Smith, Executive Member of Environment and Operations said:

Ensuring that businesses comply with the law surrounding the sale of age restricted products to children is crucial. Despite our Trading Standards team being understaffed and underfunded – they do fantastic work to safeguard residents across the borough. Our message is clear – comply with the law or be caught.

Trading Standards will continue to test purchase at businesses in the borough at different times of the year. In the last two financial years, they have completed 116 test purchases, and had 24 failures. In recent months, the failure rate has severely decreased.

Despite the work that Trading Standards do to ensure children in the borough do not have access to any kind of vapes, the number of children using nicotine based vapes in Great Britain has tripled in the past 3 years and a staggering 20.5% of children had tried vaping in March to April 2023. The health implications of vaping are relatively unknown and therefore it is strongly advised that children do not vape full stop.

Professor Abdul Razaq, Director of Public Health at Blackburn with Darwen Council said:

Due to nicotine content and the unknown long-term harms, vaping carries risk of harm and addiction for children. The health advice is clear: young people should not vape. We have a duty to protect our children and young people from the potential harms associated with underage vaping, while their lungs and brains are still developing.

Then, on Friday 17 May, Trading Standards completed a joint operation with Blackburn and Darwen Police following intelligence from a member of the public regarding THC and Spice being sold in e-liquids to young people in Blackburn Town Centre. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the psychoactive cannabinoid – illegal in the UK, and Spice is a synthetic drug, also illegal, known to cause “zombie-like paralysis” in users, particularly children.

Trading Standards carried out an inspection of a retail premises, for compliance with Tobacco and Related Products Regulations. They were accompanied by a vape and tobacco detection dog, as well as the police.

Whilst on the inspection a considerable number of products were seized including illegal tobacco, THC vape pens, cannabis and diazepam. The operator of the business was arrested and has been released under investigation by the police.

Trading Standards are now working with the police to ascertain what the number of items and substances seized from the premises are and what the repercussions will be.

This is the first time that Trading Standards have found THC vapes in retail premises in Blackburn.

Councillor Jim Casey, Assistant Executive Member of Environment and Operations said:

It is vital that members of the public continue to come forward with any intelligence of highly dangerous products that are available to buy in the borough. Retailers who believe they can sell illegal items should be stopped immediately and I thank the Trading Standards team for all their hard work in pursuing lines of interest despite being a small team spread across many important areas.

If you would like to contact Trading Standards you can do so through Citizens Advice – Contact the consumer helpline – Citizens Advice