MARKET TRADER FINED OVER E-CIGS

HE SOLD LIQUID CONTAINING NICOTINE TO TEENS

A NUNEATON market trader has been fined for selling e-cigarette liquid containing nicotine to children.

Martha Jean Young was caught out by trading standards when she sold a bottle of Mr Smoke Cherry Apple vaping liquid containing 1.8 per cent nicotine to a 15-year-old from her stall in Queens Road in March last year.

She received a written warning and advised that further enforcement exercises would be carried out in the future.

True to their word, trading standards officers revisited the stall in August and this time a 16-year-old child volunteer successfully purchased a bottle of V Juice Cloud Chasing Purple Rain e-liquid containing 0.6 per cent nicotine.

It is a criminal offence to sell nicotine inhaling products, including e-cigarettes and associated products such as refills that contain nicotine, to a person under the age of 18.

At Nuneaton Magistrates Court on Tuesday, Young, of Tanyard Close, Coventry, pleaded guilty to one offence under the nicotine legislation and was conditionally discharged for six months and told to pay £200 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

The court heard officers were acting on intelligence and the sting was part of a wider project targeting the sellers of age restricted e-cigarette and vaping products.

In mitigation Young stated that she had been feeling poorly on the day of the sales and a member of her staff had not turned up for work, leaving her with more to do.

Speaking afterwards, Warwickshire county councillor John Horner, portfolio holder for community safety, said:

This prosecution was the result of a wider e-cigarette and vaping enforcement exercise providing advice and guidance. Cllr Phillip Johnson

“Whilst e-cigarettes and vaping equipment may benefit adults attempting to quit smoking, these products, which contain the highly addictive drug nicotine, are not designed for use by children.” And Cllr Philip Johnson, chairman of the county council’s communities overview and scrutiny committee added: “This prosecution was the result of a wider e-cigarette and vaping enforcement exercise providing advice and guidance to retailers. “I would urge all Warwickshire retailers selling age restricted products to operate Challenge 25 and approach trading standards if they require further help or advice.”