Shop owners fined for selling vapes to child

A selection of the vapes seized from the shops in Scarborough

Two shop owners have been fined for selling vapes to a child during a council crackdown on illegal trading in North Yorkshire.

Dean Anthony Mitchell, the owner of Save a Lot, in Scarborough, and Marta Monika Olejarcz, manager of Marta’s European Food, Scarborough, both pleaded guilty to separate offences at the town's magistrates' court on Tuesday.

They had sold vapes to a 15-year-old who was acting as a test purchaser for North Yorkshire Council officers last year. One of the products the teenager bought also contained quantities of nicotine liquid that far exceeded legal limits.

Only persons over the age of 18 can legally purchase a vape.

The court heard that on 11 November, the teenager bought the illegal vape from Mitchell's shop. It contained 9,000 "puffs" and 18 millilitres of nicotine liquid.

The maximum quantity of nicotine liquid that is allowed by law is two millilitres, which is about the same amount found in a packet of cigarettes.

When officers returned to the shop on Castle Road 10 days later, they found 230 illegal vapes, 214 of which contained more than the permitted amount of nicotine liquid.

Sixteen other products were not marked with information that is legally required, including the name of the manufacturer and the amount of nicotine in each puff.

Karl Battersby, the council's corporate director for the environment, said: “We are pleased the court recognised the harm that can be caused by the availability of vapes to young people, especially when they contain such huge amounts of nicotine.

“There are very simple steps a retailer should have in place to ensure they do not sell age-restricted products to a young person.

“No such precautions were followed in these cases and, in one, the sale was made far worse by the fact that the vape was illegal.”

Mitchell was ordered to pay £769, including fines, a court surcharge and prosecution costs after pleading guilty to four offences under the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.

Olejarcz was ordered to pay £361 after she pleaded guilty to selling a vape to a person under 18 on 11 November at her shop on Victoria Street.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].