A Barnsley shopkeeper has received a suspended prison sentence after continuing to sell high strength and high capacity vapes despite previous advice and warnings.

 

Soyab Patel of Super News in Peel Square was found to be selling electronic cigarettes which had a nicotine volume of more than 2 millilitres, did not contain instructions for use and storage, and did not include details of the producer or contact person in the EU.

 

Our Regulatory Service officers seized 1,318 vapes with a combined value of more than £15,000 across two visits to the business in April and August of 2023.

 

Mr Patel was sentenced on Friday 19 July 2024 for offences contrary to 48(d) of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. He was given two months imprisonment, suspended for nine months, and ordered to pay £3,500 in costs. The items seized as part of the case were forfeited and ordered to be destroyed.

 

Councillor Wendy Cain, Cabinet spokesperson for Public Health and Communities, said: "We're fully committed to cutting down the availability and preventing the sales of illegal tobacco and vapes in Barnsley, and this is another case which shows that we will take action against those who continue to sell it and put people in our communities at risk.

 

"All tobacco poses a significant health risk, so it's vital that products like e-cigarettes meet legal requirements, come with the right safety information and are properly labelled.

 

"Despite this business being provided with advice to ensure illegal vapes were not sold in the shop, they chose to continue to sell high strength and high capacity vapes which had been brought into the country illegally. The previous advice and warnings given were mentioned by the judge as an aggravating factor in the seriousness of the sentence handed down.

 

"I’d like to thank our Regulatory Services and Legal Services teams for their assistance in this prosecution."