Half of shops selling vapes were happy to sell units containing as much nicotine as 100 cigarettes to a 13-year-old girl, despite the law banning them for under 18s. The Mirror sent the undercover shopper to 16 retailers and almost half sold her vapes containing the highly addictive drug.
Up to one in four vaping shops are selling super-size vapes with illegal amounts of nicotine to children, the investigation has found. Four of them sold the girl vapes with 3,500 or more puffs - which contain up to five times the legal amount of nicotine - for as little as £10.
Three more shops sold her regular legal disposable vapes, with some retailers offering her discounts and only one of the seven that sold her vapes asking if she was over 18.
Within a few hours, nearly half of the shops tested had sold the teenager a clutch of vapes containing as much of the highly addictive drug nicotine as is found in 100 cigarettes.
There are strict rules in the UK on how much nicotine disposable vapes can contain - no more than 2ml of liquid with no more than 2% nicotine.
Underage vaping rates doubled last year according to ASH, who found that 7% of 11 to 17-year-olds surveyed were “current users” in 2022, up from 3.3% the year before.
Organised crime gangs are believed to be smuggling £500million worth of illegal vapes into the UK a year.
The Post Office on Manchester’s Deansgate initially sold 13-year-old Rose a £6 Elf Bar 600 (Image: Reach Commissioned)
Two of the shops that sold the teenager a vape were Post Office franchises, including one which openly advertised Elux Legend 3500 vape bars – which are five times bigger than the legal limit – on pavement hoardings in Manchester.
Three neighbouring shops also sold the girl illegal vapes.
In Coventry, two out of 20 shops tested sold the same girl vapes, both of them legal.
A shop worker at the Post Office franchise in Manchester said: “I’ve been told to say nothing. We don’t sell to under-18s. I’m shocked.”
The manager at Vaping Mart, which sold her an Elux Legend 3500 for £11.25., said: “I am very shocked. Even with no nicotine ones, we refuse hundreds of times.”
A shop worker in Smokers Paradise sold the girl a Crystal 4000 Puffs vape, which is not registered with the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and is “100% illegal”, according to one expert.
The shop worker asked for ID but when the girl said she had left it at home the assistant sold it to her anyway for £13.
The manager refused to comment. Police have been informed and one officer said he would pass the information to trading standards.
Further along at Marhaba newsagent, Rose was given an illegal 3500 puff version for £10 and wasn’t asked her age. The manager later declined to comment.
The Department of Health and Social Care told the Mirror: “It is illegal to sell vapes to children or vapes that break our clear rules, and just this week we announced a new ‘illicit vapes enforcement squad’ backed by £3million to take further action.
“The squad will have the powers to disrupt illicit supply, undertake test purchasing and testing of products, and will share knowledge and intelligence across the country.
“We will not tolerate the sale of illegal products and will take necessary actions to remove them from shelves and stop them from crossing our borders.”
John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: “The results do not surprise me in the areas you have looked at.
“It is one of the reasons the UKVIA have been pushing the Government to take drastic action.
“We are fully behind taking these people to task. We don’t condone their behaviour at all.
“It is retailers like this who are putting the entire industry in jeopardy.”
Mr Dunne said retailers are likely to face “minuscule fines” of about £200, though the maximum is £2,500. He called for the Government to hike this to £10,000.
He also wants a licensing scheme for all vape retailers and distributors, including “robust age verification training”, and a national testing scheme.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute warned last month: “While trading standards officers are working tirelessly to try and combat the tidal wave of non-compliant vapes being sold by retailers, there is a wider issue of faults in the supply chain.”
Dr Mike McKean, vice-president for policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, called for action on “bright packaging, exotic flavours and enticing names” which appeal to children.
