Reports of underage vape sales in stores increased by almost a third in 2023 compared to 2022, a trend likely to fuel calls for harsher restrictions on the category in upcoming legislation.

Online retailer Vape Club has gathered the data from 138 local authorities to find year-on-year trends for reports and fines for illicit vapes, as well as discover where in the UK sees the most reports and illicit or underage sales of vapes.

In 2023, the online retailer found that an underage vape sale was reported every two hours in the UK, 31% higher than the previous year and 36 times higher compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Of stores caught by authorities, the majority (59%) received only a warning, despite trading standards and police having the power to issue fines.

However, 83% of reports of underage vape sales still resulted in no perpetrator being identified – as many as eight in 10 not facing even a warning. England was found to have the lowest success rate across the UK for converting reports of underage vape sales to sellers being caught. Of those caught, in the UK as a whole, the average fine issued was £400 — six times lower than the maximum fine of £2,500.

Dan Marchant, director of Vape Club, said despite this there have been improvements in local authorities setting “stronger punishments for those caught — there’s been a 69% increase in fines handed out in the latest year, though this remains too low”.

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Worst-performing regions

When reviewing more specific areas, Vape Club found Staffordshire County Council to have the highest number of reports of underage vape sales in the UK, with 195 in the latest year. From this, just seven (3.59%) sellers were caught. This is followed by Hampshire County Council, with 169 reports and two caught (1.18%); then Buckinghamshire Council and Surrey County Council, each with 154 reports and seven caught (4.54%).

Meanwhile, Liverpool City Council caught the most businesses selling vapes to underage people in the UK last year, with 54 sites exposed. This was followed by Belfast City Council with 46; then South Lanarkshire with 35.

Belfast has also fined 77 perpetrators caught selling vapes to underaged people since the turn of the decade.

London saw a 68% surge in the number of reported underage vape sales in 2023, but only one in three (35%) reports of underage vape sales in London resulted in a seller being caught. Meanwhile, Wales fell behind on enforcement of underage vape sales, with 65% of underage sellers getting off without either a warning or fine — the lowest of all UK countries.

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Test purchasing

More than half (51%) of underage reports, averaged across all local authorities, did result in a test purchase though, with an average of 25 carried out per council in 2023. Of these test purchases, 776 businesses were caught across the UK selling to underage people, an increase of 39% in 2023 compared to 2022. This contributed to a seven-fold rise in businesses caught selling vaping products to underage individuals compared to pre-pandemic figures.

However, an increase in the number of test purchases has shown diminishing returns, coinciding with a drop in the success rate of catching retailers illegally selling to underage users. In 2023, the success rate fell by 22% compared to 2022. This is on a downward trend, with the success rate falling by 29% in 2022 versus 2021. Liverpool also carried out the most test purchases of all UK local authorities.

Top test purchasing areas included Liverpool with 167 test purchases, 106 in Essex County Council, and 100 in Cheshire East Council. There were no test purchases made in Shetland, Kent County Council, Moray, Telford & Wrekin, and Flintshire local authority areas.

Marchant said: “We’re aware of the difficult job Trading Standards have to do with limited resource, with the previous government decimating funding over the last decade. This is why we propose the most effective way to secure funds so we can effectively tackle underage vaping and other issues is the licencing framework.

“A licencing framework would ring-fence funds for local Trading Standards to do their work effectively. A conservative estimate on the figures is that it will provide £50m annually, and most importantly at no cost to the taxpayer. The proposal also allows them to hand out higher fines to act as a genuine deterrent, which unfortunately we don’t currently have.

“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.”

Vape Club is calling for:

• A sustainable funding base for enforcement and inspecting
• For regulators to be better enabled, while trading standards are given the resources to proactively enforce legislation
• For trust to be reinstated in the vaping industry to help UK reach smoke-free target of 2030

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