Illegal vapes seized after children hospitalised

More than 1,000 illegal vapes were found by trading standards in Nottingham in their searches

More than 1,000 illegal vapes have been seized in Nottingham after three schoolchildren were hospitalised.

Nottingham City Trading Standards said it seized the vapes after they were told by the school involved of three businesses in the Forest Fields area which were potentially selling illegal products.

One of the businesses now faced formal action having already previously been cautioned for the sale of illegal vapes, the authority added.

Tuesday's discoveries brought the number of vapes seized by trading standards in the city to more than 9,000 this year.

Emma Boulton, principal training standards officer, said "a small number" of illegal vapes were seized from two convenience stores.

A "large quantity" was discovered at a travel agents which had previously been warned over the sale of illegal products.

"Regularly we do general inspections and visits to premises to look for illegal vapes," Ms Boulton said.

"But on this occasion three children were hospitalised and they were made quite ill by potentially vapes or some sort of cannabis oil that they'd inhaled.

"Luckily two of the children were discharged from hospital on the same day but the third child was actually kept in overnight because they had other health problems.

"They're all doing well now but obviously it's something that we need to look at trying to enforce rigorously because we don't want children to become ill in the future."

She explained some of the vapes were illegal due to their tank size and maximum number of puffs, which were restricted in the UK, while others had "misleading" label information.

Some of the seized vapes will be destroyed but some samples will be sent for testing.

Ms Boulton said investigations into the two convenience stores were "ongoing" and the businesses could potentially be cautioned.

Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.