Types of illegal vapes promoted to children in Liverpool revealed

Dec 01, 2023

More than 30,000 illegal vapes have been seized in Liverpool since the start of 2022

Over 30,000 illegal vapes with a retail value of nearly £40,000 have been seized in Liverpool in the last 18 months, according to Trading Standards.

Many are designed to appeal to children, even though they are supposed to be used by adults to give up smoking.

Compliance Officer Mark Wainwright said:

"I got some two weeks back that were called 'Gummy Bears'. There were some that have the brand name 'Skittles' but without the double t.

"There's some others that are called 'Fanta' like the drinks and I got some that look like the sherbet that you used to suck through a liquorice.

"They're very appealing and you've got the flavours like watermelon ice-cream that you wouldn't think would appeal to smokers.

"My daughters are older now, but if you found out that your 12 or 13-year-old was on these vaping products, you'd be very upset."

170 shops across Liverpool have had illegal vapes seized in the last year and a half.

Children's doctors have been calling for a complete ban on disposable vapes because of the damage they cause to young people's health.

Mr Wainwright said:

"When you speak to the smokers or friends, they say, well, you get better value from the 3,500 puffs because they're about £12. The legal ones, the 600 (puffs) tend to be £6.00.

"So they say, well, I'm still going to buy them because they get better value. It's no different to the people will that will say I'll buy the cheap under the counter cigarettes. I know they're not as nice but I can't afford the 'proper ones'.

"Our main grudge really has been sometimes we've been seizing 1,000 vapes from a shop at £12 each, they're (the shops) being hit in the pocket a lot because we find that when we're going to court with illicit or with underage sales, they're walking away with a £100 fine.

"There doesn't seem to be the understanding yet of how big a problem it is."

The government is promising to close a loophole that allows shops in England to give free samples of vapes to children.

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