Public Support For Retailer Punishments

• New polling research demonstrates significant support for harsher punishments for retailers who are caught breaking the law selling vapes to the underage.
• Majority of public brand proposed new £200 fines for shopkeepers caught selling vapes to children as “too low”
• Strong support for “Three Strikes And You’re Out” rule to ban vape retailers permanently if they breach new vape license three times

BAT UK commissioned the survey from independent research group Britain in Focus, in response to the Government’s proposed measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

BAT UK says it has consistently called for tighter regulation of the UK vape market including the introduction of a retail license scheme, as was proposed recently by Government. Once brought in, this means vapes can only be sold by someone with a licence. However, the Government has yet to confirm when this scheme will be brought into force and what the punishments will be for those retailers who repeatedly breach their licence.

Only 1% of those polled are content to wait longer than two years for the scheme to be introduced, with a majority (52%) of the public wanting the licence brought in within the next three months.

Support for strict punishments was also very high, with 67% in favour of retailers losing their licence permanently if they are caught breaching it three times. In comparison, just 22% of respondents supported a temporary licence suspension on this basis, whilst 2% thought there should be no change to a retailer’s licence if they break the law.

BAT UK says: “[It] shares the UK’s ambition to be smoke-free by 2030 and recognises the important role vaping products will play in achieving this. Today, BAT UK is therefore supporting the public’s call on the Government to enforce tougher punishments for those retailers who sell vapes to children and stock illicit products.”

Asli Ertonguc, Head of BAT UK & Western Europe said: “The results speak for themselves. The public clearly do not feel the punishments in the current proposals are tough enough to protect the underage. We need to have an open conversation about appropriate regulation and enforcement while keeping vapes as a vital tool for adults to help the UK reach its smoke-free 2030 goal.

“A retail licensing system is a step in the right direction. However, without increased fines and stricter punishments, unethical retailers will simply continue to break the law. For a vape license to be effective, retailers must know that if they abuse it, they lose it.

“With the Tobacco and Vapes Bill still progressing through Parliament, the Government must act fast. The new laws clearly needs tougher sanctions to give it the teeth to punish those who sell to children or stock illegal vapes. Without such enforcement, the Bill will fail to achieve its desired impact.”

Photo Credit:

• Photo by Chris Boland on Unsplash, Photo by Sarah Agnew on Unsplash

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave 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.