Illegal vape products worth thousands of pounds have been seized during an operation across Nottingham. Trading Standards officers in the city bagged up hundreds of vaping products - some of which contain five times the legal amount of nicotine and e-liquid.
The branded vape bars collected have a street value close to £8,000. The operation involved eight separate premises across the city, although they have not been named.
The average vape product carried up to 1,500 uses – the equivalent of smoking more than 50 cigarettes. One particular brand of the disposable, single-use vapes seized was equal to more than 100 cigarettes.
READ MORE: Trader 'disgusted' as Nottingham industrial estate declared 'surplus' by city council
Illegal vapes are often fruit-flavoured and brightly coloured to make them more attractive to children. It is illegal to sell these products to under 18s but super-strength vapes pose another level of risk to all users.
They are unregulated and there is no way of knowing what other toxic substances they may contain. Environmental concerns were also highlighted around the waste battery aspect of the devices, millions of which are imported every year – mostly from China.
In total, 1,103 disposable vaping devices were removed from sale as they were either not labelled correctly in accordance with the TARP Regulations, did not contain sufficient CLP regulation information, had a capacity of over the legal limit of 2ml or had not been published or regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Councillor Neghat Khan, Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Safety and Inclusion at Nottingham City Council, said: “Trading Standards treat the sale of nicotine vaping products as a high priority, especially where children are concerned. The rapid expansion of this market for disposable nicotine devices is worrying and presents real risks to the environment and health, especially that of young people.”
Paul Dales, Chief Environmental Health Officer at Nottingham City Council, said: “Our officers found a wide range of non-compliant vaping devices, with both safety and health risks. While some people use vaping to quit smoking, there is a real risk that these products can attract young people into experimentation and addiction. The current craze with disposable, brightly-coloured and flavoured e-cigarettes can be child appealing and that is unacceptable.
“Parents may not realise their children are vaping these unsafe devices. They are attractively coloured and closely resemble highlighter pens or make-up products. They usually cost from £5 to £7 each.”
