VPZ Responds to the Welsh Lockdown
The vape chain VPZ reacts to the First Minister of Wales announcing that the Principality will go into a “short, sharp” lockdown
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by Dave Cross
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Wales’ lockdown means that people are being told to stay in their homes, while all entertainment businesses such as pubs, hotels and restaurants have been instructed to close. The instruction also extends to “non-essential” shops such as vape stores.
First Minister Mark Drakeford told a press conference the “time-limited firebreak would be a short, sharp, shock to turn back the clock, slow down the virus and buy us more time.”
Doug Mutter, Director at VPZ, responded: “Whilst we are very disappointed to be closing our doors for the next two weeks, we understand the health implications as to why.
“We have operated all our 150+ stores across the UK within the current restrictions and have had no health s impact issues as a result. This has been down to our staff implementing a strong hygiene policy which has supported our ability to serve our customers whilst ensuring staff and customers are protected at all time.
“We believe that our stores have demonstrated their ability to operate in these conditions and have followed the rules and therefore accordingly we should be allowed to remain open. We hope businesses that have shown their commitment to following the guidance are given the appropriate business support over the coming weeks.”
Back in March, John Dunne, UK Vaping Industry Association Director, said: “The UK vaping industry, including retail outlets, online stores, manufacturers and compliance specialists, has a vital role to play in communities across the country, both from an economic and public health perspective and we want the Government to recognise this in their response to the unprecedented challenge we face.”
“In particular, if vape shops were to close it would mean that smokers and vapers would not have access to specialist advice. Keeping the vaping sector open for business is also crucial to meeting the Government’s target for England to be smoke free by 2030.”
The message was ignored and all brick and mortar stores were ordered to close except for those situated within hospitals.
In April, University College London’s Dr Lion Shahab said: “I’ve done a fair amount of work to evaluate the positive effects that e-cigarettes can have on population health. In these uncertain times, I would urge the UK government to extend the ‘essential status’ to vape shops, to allow people who’ve successfully stopped smoking continued access to vape products, in order to prevent them from returning to smoking and thereby putting an additional strain on the NHS during this pandemic.”
Mark Drakeford is ignoring the benefits vaping offers and closing off a route to reduced harm for Welsh smokers and vapers. Worse might be set to come as the BBC is reporting that, “Welsh ministers say they cannot rule out imposing another firebreak lockdown early in 2021” [link].
Related:
- VPZ – [link]
- VPZ Helps NHS Heroes, POTV – [link]
- New Nicotine Alliance: Vape shops must stay open, POTV – [link]
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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