A COMPANY must pay over £9,000 in costs after illegal disposable e-cigarettes were seized from two of its shops.
VIP Bury Ltd is based on Jubilee Road in Middleton but the illicit tobacco was discovered in shops it owns in Hyde and Ashton-under-Lyne.
The business pleaded guilty at Tameside Magistrates’ Court to five charges relating to the sale and supply of illegal disposable e-cigarettes.
The court heard that Tameside Council’s trading standards officers seized a total of 971 e-cigarettes after visiting Ecig (E-liquids and Accessories) in The Arcades Shopping Centre in Ashton-under-Lyne in November 2023 and VIP E-cigarettes in The Mall in Hyde a month later.
Magistrates gave VIP Bury Ltd a £6,800 fine, with a £2,000 victim surcharge and £200 in costs.
Company director Howard Bland also paid £2,123 in costs and was given a caution for the offences, while a forfeiture order was also granted for the seized e-cigarettes to be destroyed.
Councillor Laura Boyle, Tameside Council’s Executive Member for Environmental Services and Neighbourhoods, said: “Well done to our trading standards team for yet another successful prosecution.
“Illicit vapes fund wider crime, harm public health and undermine legitimate retailers. We will continue to take robust action to tackle this organised criminal trade that harms our communities.”
As of June 1 this year, the sale and supply of single-use, or disposable, vapes is banned in the UK – including both online and in physical shops. The ban is aimed at reducing environmental damage and curbing youth vaping.