According to the Hampshire Chronicle, a British media outlet, the Hampshire County Council recently reported that they had seized nearly 16,000 illegal e-cigarettes within a 14-month period, ranking eighth in the country for the total number of seizures.
The Vape Superstore company has submitted a freedom of information request to local governments across the UK, asking about the number of illegal e-cigarettes seized from January 1, 2023, to February 29, 2024. Each month, the UK police seize hundreds of thousands of illegal e-cigarettes in raids on black market vendors.
It is estimated that around one-third of e-cigarettes currently being sold in the UK do not meet regulations. This number is expected to significantly increase by the year 2025, following the implementation of a ban on disposable e-cigarette use.
In Hampshire, the county council seized a total of 15,999 e-cigarettes, ranking the county eighth in the number of illegal e-cigarettes confiscated. The highest number of confiscations was in Kent, where a total of 431,005 e-cigarettes were seized.
David Phillips of Vape Superstore stated:
Although e-cigarettes can be an effective method for quitting smoking, the influx of a large number of illegal e-cigarettes into the market has created a dangerous black market, and consumers are not always aware of this. Our research shows that the problem of illegal e-cigarette black market is very serious across the whole UK, especially in counties such as Kent, Lancashire, Anglesey, and Swansea. We believe that as long as consumers are aware of the harm of these products, they can make more informed purchasing decisions in the future.
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