Dozens of Scots shops fined after being caught selling vapes to children

Trading Standards officers in South Lanarkshire revealed under-18s were sold vapes at over a third of shops visited.

More than 40 shops have been fined after being caught selling vapes to children. Spot checks by Trading Standards officers in South Lanarkshire revealed under-18s were sold them at 44 shops – more than a third of those visited.

In the last year, test purchases were made at 125 premises using volunteers under the age of 18. Trading Standards officers worked with the young volunteers in tightly controlled test purchase situations to check if retailers asked for proof of age where appropriate and, if this was not produced, then refused to sell.

Where follow-up visits were conducted, 11 of the 44 outlets repeatedly sold vapes to young volunteers without asking for age ID. This was despite these premises being given a fixed penalty fine of £200 in the initial round of visits.

The figures were released after the Scottish Government announced plans for a ban of disposable vapes from April next year. Councillor Robert Brown, chair of South Lanarkshire Council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, said continued law flouting could lead to prosecution.

“The level of sales of vapes to underage volunteers in the last year was very disappointing, and would appear to reflect a disregard for the legislation by some retailers,” he said. “As a council, we have already formally recognised our concerns about the possible long-term health impact of vaping, particularly on children, by calling for a complete ban on the sale of single-use vapes.”

He added: “While this is considered at a national level, we will continue to do everything possible to prevent single-use vapes being sold to children, including, in the case of repeated non-compliance, asking our licensing team to consider a retailer’s suitability to hold a licence that allows them to sell any type of age-restricted goods.

“Additionally, if the use of spot fines is not deterrent enough, we will have to consider using our statutory powers to escalate the level of enforcement all the way to the procurator fiscal if necessary.”

The ban on the sale and supply of single-use vapes is set to come into force in Scotland on April 1 next year. The Scottish Government took action after a public consultation showed strong support for the move. Retailers caught flouting the ban could be subject to a fine of between £5000 and £10,000.

Addressing MSPs last month, acting net zero secretary Gillian Martin said the ban would “make our communities greener and healthier”.

A recent Scottish government report found that 22 per cent of all under-18s – around 78,000 – are believed to have used a vape in the last year, with more using them than smoking cigarettes.

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