A WARRINGTON business has been ordered to pay more than £17,000 for selling illegal disposable vapes with higher amounts of nicotine-containing liquid than permitted.
Non-compliant vapes were found in MM Newsagent Ltd, in Bridge Street, Warrington with products found with volumes of e-liquid ranging from 10ml to 20ml.
The legal limit is two millilitres. The business had previously been given advice on how to check that any vapes they had for sale met the legal requirements.
Despite this the court heard that Public Protection Officers became aware that the business was selling non-compliant vapes and acting on intelligence, seized 1,603 products during an inspection of the shop in September, 2023.
All of the vapes had oversized tanks with capacities exceeding the 2ml legal limit and were lacking any UK importer or manufacturer details on their packaging as required by The Tobacco and Related Products regulations 2016.
None of them had been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
MM Newsagent Ltd along with Mohamed Saeed (director) pleaded guilty to the offences of having disposable vapes available for supply that breached the regulations.
Warrington Magistrates imposed fines, costs and victim surcharge totalling £17,605 on MM Newsagent Ltd £10,000 anticipated profit, penalty £5,000, victim surcharge of £2,000, and costs of £605.00, a total of £17,605.00.
Saeed was also fined £923.00, with a victim surcharge of £369.00 and costs of £604.00, a total of £1,896.00.
The court also ordered the forfeiture and destruction order of the non-compliant products.
After the hearing, Cllr John Kerr-Brown (pictured) , the borough council’s cabinet member for environment, housing and public protection, said “Retailers have a duty to make sure the products they sell comply with UK regulations.
“We are keen to work with all retailers to ensure the products they sell comply with the law. We would encourage all retailers to ensure they only source such products from a reputable supplier, and to familiarise themselves with the regulations.
“We will continue to work closely with our partners to tackle the issue and remove illegal products from the marketplace when we find them.”
Anyone concerned that they have been sold non-compliant or counterfeit vapes should notify the council by calling 03453 040506 or by emailing [email protected]
