Middlesbrough shop closed over sale of illegal vapes
A Middlesbrough shop has been shut down over the illegal sale of vapes.
Johns News on Linthorpe Road cannot trade for three months following a ban by Teesside Magistrates Court.
Middlesbrough Council Trading Standards seized 1,285 non-compliant vapes valued at more than £15,000
Officers visited the shop on April 21 after it heard complaints that vapes had been sold to under-age people.
They found the products hidden in crisp boxes, inside a bin, under cardboard and inside a bed frame.
All the products contained illegal quantities of nicotinen while some were incorrectly labelled as containing 0% nicotine. All of the products also failed to comply with product labelling laws, which included a lack of necessary health warnings.
In Court on Tuesday 6 June, District Judge Marie Mallon ordered operator Harpreet Singh to pay £1,500 towards the Council’s costs.
Judith Hedgley, Middlesbrough Council’s Head of Public Protection, said: “All tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vape products must comply with stringent tobacco control laws, including a limit on nicotine content and tank size, as well as complying with packaging and labelling requirements.
“Devices offering more than approximately 650 puffs are generally illegal - the vast majority of those found at John’s News were labelled as offering between 4,000 and 10,000 puffs. A 3,500-puff vape is the same as smoking around 280 cigarettes.”
“Our Trading Standards team is proactively checking businesses that sell vapes to check that they are only selling legitimate products and that they are not selling nicotine-containing vapes to anyone under 18.
“Any business that is found to have sold illicit vapes or any nicotine-containing vapes to young people could be prosecuted and/or closure orders issued to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.”
Middlesbrough Mayor Chris Cooke, Executive member for Public Protection, said: “Recent reports are showing that unsafe, illegal vapes, which we are now seeing being offered in our communities, particularly to young people, can contain chemicals like lead and nickel, which damage the central nervous system and affect brain development.
“Most vapes contain nicotine, which is addictive and young people who use vapes are more likely to become smokers in the future.
“Selling non-compliant vapes and selling vapes containing nicotine to young people is illegal, immoral and totally unacceptable.”
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