Two businesses in Oxfordshire have been sued for selling disposable e-cigarettes to children. During a committee investigation, e-cigarette stores and supermarkets were found to have sold e-cigarettes to 16-year-old children. The sources of the article are cited as Oxfordshire Live.
According to the trading standards service of the Oxfordshire County Council, electronic cigarettes, also referred to as "Puff" or "Vape pens," were sold to test purchasers in March of this year. The legal age limit for the sale of electronic cigarettes is 18 years or older.
Didcot Vaping Company, which operates under the name Didcot Vaping Store, has admitted to selling an electronic cigarette to a child and has been fined £666. The company has also been ordered to pay £67 victim surcharge and the council's full costs of £2,124.
Jahngeer Hanif, aged 42, has admitted to the same offences at the Wide Street supermarket in Banbury and has been fined £600. He is required to pay an additional fee of £60 to the victim and a donation of £1,000 to cover parliamentary costs.
The council has announced that a third company will appear in court in January 2023 for selling e-cigarettes to children. It is also accused of selling e-cigarettes that do not meet UK packaging standards and has previously received warnings regarding its products.
Oxfordshire's goal is to become one of the first smoke-free counties in England by 2030, which means that less than one person in every 20 will still be smoking.
According to Jenny Hannaby, a member of the Community Services and Safety Cabinet in Oxfordshire County Council, "E-cigarettes are not risk-free. It is important that those who want to try using them to quit smoking have access to these products, as they are one of the most effective methods of support to quit smoking. However, while e-cigarettes pose only a small fraction of the risks of traditional cigarettes, they are not risk-free products, and we do not encourage young people who have never smoked to use them.
Many retailers in Oxfordshire are putting in a great deal of effort to train their staff and implement related systems in order to prevent the sale of age-restricted products to children under 18. Anyone who expressly states that they sell age-restricted products but fails to ensure that proper precautionary measures are taken should be aware of the consequences that could ensue if they have not passed such tests.
Jodie Kerman, the trade standards officer for Oxford County Council, added: "Before carrying out this test purchasing exercise, we visited all the businesses about to be tested to provide advice on preventing underage sales. These visits also led to the discovery of thousands of illegal disposable e-cigarettes, which were removed from shelves. We are now working with retailers to ensure that any equipment in their future stock complies with legal requirements.
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