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Banbury retailer prosecuted for selling e-cigarettes to children
22/11/2022
The owner of Broad Street Supermarket was fined £600 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge and some of the costs
A Banbury retailer has been prosecuted for selling disposable e-cigarettes to children.
Broad Street Supermarket sold the disposable e-cigarettes, sometimes known as ‘puff bars’ or ‘vape pens’, to 16 year old test purchasers in March this year, despite the legal age limit for the sale of e-cigarettes being 18 and over.
The prosecution follows an investigation by Oxfordshire County Council’s trading standards service.
Jahngeer Hanif, 42, trading as Broad Street Supermarket, pleaded guilty to selling an e-cigarette to a child. He was fined £600, was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60 and a contribution of £1,000 towards the council’s costs.
Trading Standards have also prosecuted a Didcot based business for the same offence.
Jody Kerman, Oxfordshire County Council’s Head of Trading Standards, added: “Prior to this test purchasing work taking place we visited all the business due to be tested to provide advice on preventing underaged sales. These visits also resulted in us finding thousands of illegal, disposable e-cigarettes, which have been removed from sale. We are now working with retailers to ensure that any devices they do stock in future are legally compliant.”
Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Services and Safety, said: “It is important that those people who want to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking have access to these products as they are one of the most effective methods of supporting a quit attempt.
“However, whilst e-cigarettes pose only a small fraction of the risk of traditional cigarettes, they are not risk free products and we do not encourage young people who have never smoked before to begin using them.
“Many Oxfordshire retailers work very hard to train their staff and implement systems to prevent the sale of such items to children under the age of 18. That said, anyone who does sell age restricted products but fails to make sure that they have taken adequate precautions should be aware of the potential consequences if they fail a test of this kind.”
Anyone with information about the sale of illegal, disposable e-cigarettes or underage sales can email trading.standards@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam