Industry experts call for a stronger crackdown, with greater council enforcement powers and tighter restrictions.
New data finds Welsh local councils have lost out on £760,000 since the turn of the decade, with trading standards ‘toothless’ and lacking powers to issue fines or fixed penalty notices for the possession and supply of illegal vapes.
Over the last 12 months alone, Rhondda Cynon Taf councils stood to gain £162,500, Denbighshire councils £75,000, and Wrexham Council £52,500.
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The findings, obtained by Vape Club for the 2024 Illegal Vaping Report, analysed Freedom of Information data from 152 local authorities. In 2023, there were nearly 3,000 individual cases of businesses in possession of, stocking, or selling illegal vaping products. With fines or fixed penalty notices only administered through lengthy court processes, just 1 in 20 resulted in fines.
In the last year, 55,454 illegal vapes were seized in Wales, enough for one to be sold every ten minutes. This figure has more than tripled since the year before when 16,592 illegal vapes were seized.
The local authorities that seized the most illegal vapes since 2020 are;
- Swansea (24,889)
- Cardiff (11,189)
- Newport (8,308)
Since the turn of the decade, Welsh local authorities have caught 302 unscrupulous sellers. However, less than 1% of these sellers were issued fines during this time.
Figures show more support is needed for trading standards and local authorities to keep up with the scale of the issue, an issue supported in the Vape Retailer and Distributor Licensing framework, launched to engage the government and authorities in developing methods to stop the vaping black market.
Dan Marchant, Director of vape pod retailer Vape Club, says:
“The unregulated illegal vape trade mirrors the issues once prevalent in the cigarette black market, including youth usage, potentially dangerous products, and unregulated retail sales.
“The best deterrent for any crime is the likelihood of being caught and right now that is incredibly low, and rogue retailers are taking full advantage of this. We have to create an environment where there is much more chance of being caught.
“Currently, the maximum fine that can be handed out is £2,500 but in reality, the fines given out are much, much lower. We completely welcome the move to allow trading standards to issue on-the-spot fines, but we would like to see those fines increased to at least £10,000 and increase the fine for repeat offenders.”
Speaking about the powers of enforcement for UK local authorities, a spokesperson from the Kent County Council says:
“When any illegal device is found, Trading Standards use enforcement powers to seize the product and then, dependant on the circumstances, either engage to ensure compliance or conduct further enforcement action.
“Currently, Trading Standards does not have powers to issue fines nor fixed penalty notices for the possession and supply of illegal vapes. Recent central government announcements around vapes have included the possibility of fixed penalty notices and developments are awaited, however, at the present time, any fine can only be administered by the courts.”
