Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Lincolnshire Police have secured closure orders against seven stores on High Street and Portland Street within the city.
All of the stores had been found selling counterfeit or banned goods. Illegal goods were seized from the premises by Lincolnshire Trading Standards and the local Neighbourhood Policing Team. Test purchasing operations were conducted by Trading Standards in conjunction with the Police Alcohol Licensing Team. Evidence was collated over a six month period.
At Lincoln Magistrates Court on 26 and 27 June, three-month closure orders were issued under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 for:
- Mr Chippy, 137 High Street
- High Street Vapes, 390 High Street
- Top Mini Market, 380 High Street
- Universal Vape, 373 High Street
- Vape Center, 374 High Street
- Portland Vapes, 11 Portland Street
- Kikush, 371 High Street
The orders mean that the businesses cannot trade from the premises during this time, and each of them now have large signs informing the public that they are no longer open.
No one should be in the premises except the landlord, solely for maintenance purposes, and emergency services if required. Anyone else is committing an offence and could be arrested. If found guilty of an offence, they could be arrested and are liable to either imprisonment or a fine, and the order could also be extended.
Principal Lincolnshire Trading Standards officer, Andy Wright, said:
“It is no coincidence that we find shops selling illegal cigarettes and vapes in areas where there is a public perception of high crime and where residents feel particularly vulnerable. This isn’t a situation that is unique to Lincoln, the same can be said of virtually every other town in Lincolnshire.
“These are not shops that sell a few cigarettes or vapes ‘on the side’. Instead, they exist solely to supply illegal goods. The shops are operated by criminals and out of county organised crime groups.
“We will continue to work with our partners in the police to remove this blight from our town centres. The fact that we have secured seven closure orders in just two days in Lincoln alone shows the extent of the problem.
“By law, the maximum period these closure orders can last is three months. So we have put plans in place to assist landlords to remove criminal tenants from their premises. Where we are not convinced actions taken by landlords will stop criminal activity on their premises, we intend to apply to the court for closure extensions.”
Sergeant Simon Garside from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team, said:
“Shops that sell illegal and illicit products pose a significant threat – but I understand that it might not be quite clear to the broader public what that is when it might seem like ‘just a few vapes’. In fact, we know that there is often a bigger picture behind the scene. Every case is different, but the issues we are concerned with is the broader criminality linked to organised crime groups operating from a distance.
"The associated crime and issues might include human trafficking, money laundering and tax offenses, hindering prosperity of legitimate local business; as well as the significant health and safety implications linked to these illegal tobacco and vape products. For Lincolnshire Police and our partner agencies, this is a really important and serious issue to tackle. This is not only a public health issue, this is a larger, more complex criminal issue that we are tackling head on.
“We’ll continue to use every piece of legislation that's available to prosecute people behind these shops, and that includes the option to apply to extend the order by a further three months if needed. These extensions can give us the time needed to put other plans in place to keep those individuals out of the area for good."
If you have any information about illegal vapes or cigarettes being sold in Lincolnshire, please report it anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org.