Illicit Vape Sales from 2021 - 2024 - Find a freedom of information request

1) The number of reports of illicit vape sales at convenience stores during 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 so far.

2) The number of seizures of illicit vapes at convenience stores during 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 so far.

3) The number of fines issued to independent retailers for selling illicit vapes during 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 so far.

1. The below reflects consumer complaints alone.

2. Please note we only started recording vape seizures in 2022.

3.

​In relation to the number of fines issued, please see table above. Please note:

• Lincolnshire Trading Standards do not issue fines to businesses distributing non-compliant vapes, such as on the spot penalty notices.  Fines would be issued through criminal cases taken through the courts by Lincolnshire Trading Standards.  As such, cases can take a long time to reach an outcome at court, not all cases will have concluded and so the below does not always relate to the year the product was seized.
• Furthermore, criminal prosecutions are not the only enforcement route followed for sellers of non-compliant vapes.  Warning notices, cautions, closure orders, etc, are all other available outcomes within our enforcement policy, which takes account of previous history.  The below is just those that have been through the courts and resulted in a fine.  Court cases can also result in other sanctions, such as community orders, custody, etc. 
• The above cases have all been criminal prosecutions.   The level of fine issued may differ depending on the history of the business or individual or the case details – i.e if other illicit products (eg tobacco) were also seized at the time.  4 further prosecutions are currently pending for non-compliant vapes. 
• Whilst none of the cases above were fined more than once within this time period, the £1200 fine issued in Q2 2023/24 related to two separate under age sales of vapes on different occasions, the individual subject to the £250 fine in Q3 2023/24 has previously been prosecuted for underage sales of tobacco and the business receiving the £500 fine in Q3 2023/24 also sold a further non-compliant vape during the period of the investigation.