Illegal vape shops closed after public tip-offs

Illegal tobacco and vape products were found in nine shops

Police have shut nine shops in Lincolnshire after finding illegal tobacco and vapes.

Six shops in Boston, two in Spalding and one in Holbeach have been given three-month closure orders.

The orders were served by Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Lincolnshire Police.

Trading Standards said the closures were a direct response to tip-offs from the public.

The Fruit Shop on High Street in Boston is one of the premises where illegal tobacco and vape products were found

According to Lincolnshire Trading Standards, officers visited premises where illegal tobacco and vape products were sold.

Court orders were then granted under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 at:

• Nasza Biedronka, Spalding

• Easy Shop, Spalding

• Holbeach Market, High Street, Holbeach

• The Fruit Shop, Biedronka, and Mini Market all on the High Street, Boston

• Kubus on Red Lion Street, Boston

• Europa on Fydell Street, Boston

• Balkans Mini Market on West Street, Boston

'Direct response to concerns'

Trading standards said they used data from Lincolnshire Police’s StreetSafe initiative to identify the shops.

StreetSafe is a website for people to anonymously report places they feel unsafe.

Andy Wright from Trading Standards said: “The closures are as a direct response to concerns expressed by members of the public through StreetSafe.

“I do not think it is a coincidence that many of the illegal businesses forcibly closed are to be found within those areas”

Lincolnshire Police said illegal trading was only part of the problem.

“It is often linked to other criminality across Lincolnshire and other force areas,” PC Amy Thorley from Lincolnshire Police said.

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