According to the Daily Record on October 10th, a report shows that the sales of e-cigarettes to underage individuals in Scotland, UK, increased by 79% in 2024, making it the region with the highest growth rate in the UK.
Although the enforcement actions in 2023 resulted in a 132% increase in the number of suppliers caught compared to last year, two-fifths of businesses that sold to minors have still not faced any penalties.
The statistics are from the 2024 report on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, based on data provided by 138 local governments in the UK. The report was produced by Vape Club, the UK's largest e-cigarette retailer. This data aligns with a report from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS), which shows an increasing number of teenagers using e-cigarettes.
Vape Club's Director and founder, Dan Marchant, revealed:
Among all businesses found selling e-cigarettes to minors, the average fine in 2023 was only £162 - this is just one-fifteenth of the maximum fine of £2,500. We found that last year, three-fifths of confirmed cases of e-cigarette sales to minors did not receive fines, only warnings. Only 41% of businesses found selling e-cigarettes to minors were fined.
We call for all individuals who have been caught to be fined as a stronger deterrent. We recognize the difficulty faced by the Trade Standards Bureau in completing this challenging task with limited resources, and the severe budget cuts over the past decade. However, more effort is still needed to crack down on retailers selling tobacco and e-cigarette products to minors.
He urged the UK government to consider implementing a retail license scheme for e-cigarettes, which could generate over £50 million annually for the Trading Standards Agency to fund enforcement, including regular purchases of tests and inventory checks to catch illegal products that do not comply with UK regulations, at no cost to taxpayers. Additionally, he called on the UK government to establish stricter penalties to deter unethical retailers who profit from selling products to children.
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