30,000 illegal disposable vapes seized from Sheffield shop

Sheffield Trading Standards, working with South Yorkshire Police, have uncovered 30,000 illegal vapes at a small Sheffield shop, the council said.

The large quantity, which filled the shop and the storeroom, took a considerable amount of time to remove from the premises, it added, advising vape retailers to act responsibly and to comply with the law when selling vaping products.

Last year, Sheffield Trading Standards carried out around 100 inspection visits to local businesses selling vapes and found many were selling the illegal brands.

“The success of this operation is testament to the hard work and dedication of our Trading Standards Officers. I would also like to extend my thanks to the fantastic officers of South Yorkshire Police who assisted the Trading Standards Team on the day,” Cllr Joe Otten, chair of waste and street scene committee at Sheffield City Council, said.

"Trading Standards across the country are finding that many of the vapes that are seized are designed specifically to appeal to children and young people, with packaging and flavours emulating popular confectionery brands. This operation shows how important it was for the team to investigate and act. By seizing child appealing overstrength vapes they are safeguarding the next generation from a life-time of addiction to nicotine.”

Many of the devices seized during this operation had 18ml nicotine containing liquid capacity which is nearly ten times prescribed safe limits. The devices may also contain banned carcinogenic and otherwise hazardous chemicals that are not allowed in the UK but are uncontrolled in other parts of the world.

Cllr Otten added: “These illegal vapes therefore pose significant health dangers to users, and this discovery and significant seizure has prevented many tens of thousands of powerful and potentially dangerous vapes from being sold all over our city. The devices seized during this operation are being sold at between £10 to £15 which means that the value of this stock was around £400,000. That’s the removal of a significant number of harmful products from the market.”