Illicit tobacco: The effect on cash and carry

Eamonn agrees, and warns that not tackling the issue could lead to more problems.

“Most retailers really are law-abiding,” he said. “But their hand is being forced. If one starts to lose regular customers, then it makes a huge difference to their sales. You can see why they would turn to the illicit trade.”

Alan’s depot is consistently at the top of the sales tree in the Batley estate, and with tobacco making up 54% of his sales, it’s a key category. He is using this strong position to educate his retail customers.

“Retailers don’t know what’s going on in the background. They tell the police, or whoever, and expect someone to turn up the next day and shut them down. It doesn’t work like that. They need to do a sweep of the area – they can’t just do it one store at a time.

“Retailers need to know there is a lot of work being done in the background, but they need to keep reporting the issues.”

Eamonn backs this up and said he tried to manage expectations. “It takes time for law enforcement to build up a detailed picture and take action but, rest assured, information is never discounted.”

The potential impact of just one customer switching to illicit trade is huge, warned Alan: “If you lose just one customer, spending £5,000 per week, that’s a massive impact.

He said: “That’s £250,000 a year. It’s a huge loss, because of the value of the category.”

Is there a problem in your area? Called the Smoke Them Out hotline ANONYMOUSLY on 020 7689 3376to report it.