UK Riots Impact Vape Companies
Widespread rioting and looting swept across England recently and vape retailers were targets for criminal activity
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by Dave Cross
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The Association of Convenience Stores has announced that help and support is available to any vape retailer who has suffered during the widespread rioting and looting that swept across England recently. One example, the sixteen-year-old in Merseyside who joined in with the rioting, stealing from a store…and must be built like a pack mule.
The Association of Convenience Stores says: “The past few days have seen riots sweep across various towns and cities in the UK, where many refugees, ethnic minorities, businesses, public buildings, the police, and the media have been targeted for violence and abuse.
“The Association of Convenience Stores are conscious of the effect that this might have on its members, who may be affected or concerned about being impacted over the coming days. In light of these appalling events, ACS are working to provide help and guidance to retailers and colleagues during this time.
“Help for retailers and colleagues is available through crisis support at Grocery Aid, whom we have contacted and are prepared for calls related to these incidents. We are also in discussion with the Home Office about the way the Riot Compensation Act’s provisions can be applied in these incidents, where retailers will be able to claim compensation if they have been impacted by a riot.
“In addition, ACS will be feeding in its members’ experiences through the Home Office and other departments so they can be fed into COBRA and other government briefings in the ongoing response. If you have been directly impacted by the riots, please get in contact with [email protected] so the information can be collated and relayed to the government.”
A case in point is the Merseyside sixteen year old (who can’t be named due to his age). The boy was charged with violent disorder, two counts of burglary, criminal damage to a police vehicle and assaulting an emergency worker.
The boy appeared in front of District Judge Healey with three other people following the rioting that broke out after three little girls were killed in Southport.
The boy was caught on CCTV breaking the window of a convenience store and made away with stolen vapes on an electric scooter.
Readers may recall another incident the boy was involved in. Due to his distinctive clothing, he was named as being one of those responsible for pulling a policeman from his motorcycle.
The same boy was observed jumping on and damaging a police car.
Eventually he was tracked to SandS News where he made his vape theft. News reports say he helped himself “to an estimated £15,000 worth of vapes”.
With the average disposable costing around £5, this means 3,000 vapes were stolen – it is safe to assume that unless he had a trailer on the electric scooter the boy couldn’t have stolen all of them.
The boy pled guilty to all charges. Court was adjourned for pre-sentencing reports and he is set to reappear on 17 September for sentencing.
Photo Credit:
Photo by Mylo Kaye on Unsplash
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.
