Manchester has been identified as one of the worst offending areas for underage vape sales in the UK.
The illegal sale of vapes is an issue across the North West with Manchester, Liverpool and Cheshire East all making it into the top five highest offenders in England for confirmed cases of the unlawful selling of vaping products to underage persons.
The 2024 Underage Vape Sales Report found that 27 retailers in Manchester were caught in 2023 selling vapes illegally to underage children, at five times the national average.
Written by Vape Club, the report submitted Freedom of Information requests to 138 local authorities across the UK to gather data including the number of reports local authorities received and the number of confirmed cases that the local authority verified.
More than 4,500 reports were made across the country last year, working out to one every two hours – a 31% increase from 2022.
In 2023, there were 133 confirmed cases in the North West – more than Wales and Northern Ireland put together.
The maximum penalty fine for the sale of vapes to underage teens is £2,500 but this is rarely implemented. The average fine for the North West is £250 and the national average is £400.
Only one in four sellers in Manchester were fined whereas just over a third of sellers in Liverpool were fined or given a warning.
The Vape Club is using their report to call for the government to implement a Vape Retailer and Distributor Licensing framework to curb underage vaping.
Dan Marchant, Director of Vape Club, said:
“The government needs to support local councils in enforcing stricter penalties. While some progress is being made, it’s clear that there’s still plenty more that can be done to tackle the issue of underage vape sales in Manchester.
“A licensing framework could provide £50 million annually to Trading Standards without burdening taxpayers, allowing for stricter enforcement and higher fines, which are necessary as rogue retailers currently face little risk of being caught.”
He said that he would like to see fines raised to a minimum of £10,000 to dissuade businesses selling illegally with higher penalties for repeat offenders.
Featured Image: R~P~M (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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