Somerset vape shop turning away children on a daily basis

A vape shop in Wellington, Somerset, has called for tighter industry regulation, saying it’s turning children away from buying products daily.

Amy Durban and Jason Cory-Humble run Quick Vapes 4u. Despite only being open for a matter of weeks, they say they regularly see under-18s come into the store asking to buy vapes.

It is illegal for anyone under 18 to be sold a vaping product.

Amy said: "We're having youngsters daily coming in and trying to purchase vapes from us. When asked for their ID, they say that they've left it at home and I say 'you need to return. Go and get your ID then you're more than welcome back.' They don't bother coming back. I don't see them again. So they've already tried once, they're not going to try again."

The couple say the issue is so severe they want to see regulation brought in - with colourful packaging banned, only licensed businesses allowed to sell and products hidden from view like cigarettes are.

Jason said: "Vaping is like the new smoking. These kids are seeing it as being cool, which isn't necessarily good because we don't know what the long-term effects of it is. So it's definitely for the over-18s to give up smoking to quit that habit. But it's become very attractive for the young and cool for the kids and that is the issue and that comes down to where they're being sold and how they're being sold."

Their call comes as a Somerset headteacher asked parents to help him tackle the rising issue of under-18s vaping.

Mark Woodlock recently wrote a letter to parents calling on them to support his efforts to prevent a continuing rise in pupils using vapes.

In his letter, he wrote: "The issue of vaping and its consequences has occupied a substantial proportion of my time in the last year. Please talk with your children about the dangers of vaping and the possible health, safety and environmental implications."

Speaking to ITV News, he said: "We need the help and support from the outside world to not make this easy for students and at the moment it's too easy. Why we are allowing something that is directly targeted at young people which is so overtly harmful to continue? Let's change the marketing, let's change the regulation and hopefully we can change the habit."

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this month showed a large increase in vaping among teenagers and young adults in Britain.

In 2022, 15.5% of 16 to 24-year-olds vaped daily or occasionally, up from 11.1% in 2021.

In 2019 the Government pledged to make England “smokefree” by 2030, meaning just 5% of people would smoke by that time.