Council chiefs in South Tyneside are continuing to crackdown on illegal and “potentially unsafe” vaping products targeted at children after removing 1,500 from sale in the past year. South Tyneside Council’s trading standards department said they are working with partners, including schools, on the issue which is “very high” on their agenda, with an education campaign in place.
The vaping products are typically sold in brightly coloured packaging, with a variety of flavours and names such as Pink Lemonade, Cola, Lemon Sherbet and Banana Ice. The 1,500 products seized over the past 12 months were “ illegal in relation to their design, labelling and nicotine content”, according to council reports.
In addition many were not registered with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority. Councillors at the latest meeting of the local authority’s licensing and regulatory services committee warned of the impact vaping can have on children in particular.
Councillor Stephen Dean, Bede ward representative, said: “A lot of people don’t realise how addictive they really are, how much nicotine is still in them. I’ve been on buses, you see kids using them and saying ‘have you tried this new banana one, it’s brilliant’.
“It’s amazing how addictive they’ve become, my big worry is it’s going to get really out of hand, so I’m pleased to see that it’s going to be a thing they go in on for sure.” Council chiefs said the 1,500 vapes were seized from specialised e-cigarette retailers, as well as “small general dealer” types of stores.
They added the seizures followed previous local authority advice to retailers on compliance. Councillor Alexander Donaldson, Cleadon Park representative, stressed the council should be emphasising concerns around children and vaping.
He said: “Children getting a hold of vaping products, which may lead to smoking as well, is the sort of thing that concerns everybody.” James Maughan, council service lead for community protection, said they are continuing to tackle issues with vapes as it is a tobacco product subject to age restrictions.
He said: “I can assure the committee, although I can’t give details, that it is very high on the trading standards agenda. Operations have been carried out with regard to underge sales of vaping products, I can’t say anymore than that.”
He added they also have a large education campaign in place around vapes and the potential issues attached to them. Councillor Margaret Peacock added she had concerns over how they are “obviously produced to be attractive for children”.
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