Hillingdon Council has prosecuted a Ruislip shopkeeper and the company he works for for illegally selling vapes to underage children.
It was announced in December that the fine was handed out after the shop was caught selling vapes to young volunteers who were planted in a test purchasing operation.
Siddharth Bhatt, 24, of Albert Road, Harrow, who works at H T Food and Wine in Ruislip High Street, was fined £150 and ordered to pay costs of £300 and a £60 victim surcharge.
The company which runs the store, A S Patel Food & Wine Ltd, had been fined £440, costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £176 at a previous hearing at the court in September.
In England, although vapes cannot be legally sold to under 18s, the rate of vaping among young people is increasing. A 2023 survey conducted by Action on Smoking and Health found that 3.7 per cent of young people aged 11 to 18 in Great Britain regularly vape.
Councillor Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s cabinet member for community and environment, said: “These cases send a strong message that we will take robust action when retailers flout the law and sell vapes and other age-restricted products to children.
“We have a duty to uphold the law and protect our young people, which is why we will continue to stop at nothing to prevent businesses in our borough illegally selling these items to our young people.”
Photo credit: Google Maps
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