Illicit tobacco hurts trade

I read your article “Officers seize 30,000 cigarettes in Peterborough stores raid” published today with interest.

Members o f t h e Pet ro l Retailers Association (PRA), which represents 5,500 independent forecourts, are increasingly concerned about the amount of illicit tobacco on our streets and the direct impact it has on their businesses.

A survey carried out of PRA members this month has shown that 73% believe that illicit trade hurts their business and decreases their annual sales revenue with almost two thirds believing that the problem is getting worse.

Retailers are also increasingly opposed t0 Government proposals to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products and think it will harm honest retailers because it will fuel illicit trade and people will buy their cigarettes from the black market.

Our contemporaries in Australia, the only country in the world to have introduced plain packaging, show these concerns are well founded. The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) says 70% of retailers have been negatively affected by plain packaging, with 67% saying that the growth of the black market has had an impact on their business since plain packaging was introduced. During the same period, the sale of illegal branded cigarettes has increased by 154%, according to KPMG. Tobacco consumption has remained constant.

The more retailers hear about the i mpact o f pl a i n packaging in Australia the more opposed they are to seeing it introduced in the UK. Retailers are unanimous in their belief that the Government should fully evaluate the Australian experiment before implementing plain packaging here.

Brian Madderson Chairman – Petrol Retail

ers Association 201 Great Portland Street,

London,