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Banbury convenience store sold illegal e-cigarette to a child
09/05/2023
A 16-year-old test purchaser visited the store in March 2022
A Banbury convenience store owner has received fines and costs totalling £3,650 after his shop sold an illegal e-cigarette to a child.
Ashishkumar Patel is a director of Dhwanee Supermarket Ltd on the Warwick Road.
The store sold a disposable e-cigarette – which is sometimes known as a ‘puff bar’ or ‘vape pen’ – to a 16 year old test purchaser in March 2022. The legal age limit for the sale of e-cigarettes is 18 and over.
On inspection the e-cigarette was found to not meet the UK packaging standards for e-cigarettes. A previous warning had been issued to the business about faults with this particular brand and that they could not be legally sold unless the faults were rectified.
Mr Patel was found guilty of two offences following a trial at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on March 27 this year.
On Friday (May 5) he attended a sentencing hearing and was fined £500 in relation to the sale of an e-cigarette to a child and a further £1,000 for selling an e-cigarette that did not meet the UK packaging regulations. He was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards costs and a £150 victim surcharge.
Jody Kerman, Oxfordshire County Council’s Head of Trading Standards, 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. The apparent rising popularity of disposable e-cigarettes amongst teenagers makes appropriate age verification checks essential and trading standards will continue to make test purchases to ensure that these are being rigorously carried out.
“Anyone who does sell age restricted products but fails to make sure that they have taken adequate precautions should be aware of the serious potential consequences if they fail a test of this kind.
“In addition to this test purchasing work our officers have been responding to complaints from parents and schools about alleged underaged sales at stores across the county and have made dozens of visits to local retailers because of them. These visits have 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 fully legally compliant.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam