A large quantity of illegal vapes were seized by Trading Standards and North Wales Police from a Wrexham city centre shop. Officers from the Council’s Public Protection team supported by Wrexham Police officers raided the shop on Friday evening.
Examination of the various vapes on sale revealed that around 3000 of the products available for sale were illegal and were removed. The items seized were being sold for about £10 each meaning that the total street value of the seizure is approximately £30,000.
UK law restricts both the size and the nicotine content of disposable vapes. The items seized were over twice the permitted nicotine strength and also exceeded the 2 ml permitted maximum content of vaping fluid.
Vapes have proved to be a very successful quit aid for tobacco smokers to help them to give up a lethal addiction through using a less harmful product. However, vapes are not risk free and UK regulations exist to make vapes as safe as they can be by controlling the strength and size of products.
If you don’t smoke, don’t use vapes
There is increasing concern over the numbers of people experimenting with vaping who have never smoked. The easy availability, low cost and attractive marketing adds to this problem with concern being expressed that the marketing methods used by manufacturers are designed to make them appeal to children.
It is illegal to sell them to anyone under the age of 18 regardless of whether or not the product itself is legal. For children and for adults, the simple message is, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape.
The rise in their popularity has also lead to very significant environmental problem with around 5 million used disposables being discarded every week in the UK. Each discarded vape contains a lithium battery, plastic, electrical components and residual liquid. Although the law places a legal responsibility on the producers of the products to see that they are recycled, a recent study suggest that this only happens to 17% of them with the majority being thrown in the bin. This can cause significant problems at waste plants where there have been a number of fires caused by discarded lithium batteries.
Investigations into the seizure are continuing.
If you have concerns about the sale of vapes that may be illegal or about the sale of vapes to children, please contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133 (1144 for Welsh)
