Sheffield: Thousands of illegal vapes seized from small shop

The vapes are valued at about £400,000

Thousands of illegal disposable vapes have been seized from a small shop in Sheffield.

Trading Standards worked with South Yorkshire Police to recover 30,000 vapes with a value of £400,000.

Many of them had nearly 10 times the prescribed safe limit of nicotine in them.

Sheffield City Council said action would help safeguard the "next generation from a life-time of addiction to nicotine".

Trading Standards said the operation had taken a "considerable amount of time" because of the large quantity of vapes filling the shop and storeroom.

'Dangerous vapes'

It believed the devices were being sold for between £10 and £15.

The vapes may have also contained banned carcinogenic chemicals that were uncontrolled in other parts of the world, Trading Standards said.

Joe Otten, chair of the council's waste and street scene committee emphasised the importance of seizing "dangerous vapes".

"By seizing child-appealing over-strength vapes they are safeguarding the next generation from a life-time of addiction to nicotine," he said.

Sheffield Trading Standards said that its team had seen a "significant increase" in consumer complaints about sales of illegal vapes and sales of vapes to children.

In 2023, around 100 inspections were carried out and the team found many local businesses to be selling illegal brands of vapes.

Vape retailers have been urged to comply with the law regarding these products, which includes buying stock from legitimate sources and making sure products are labelled correctly.

Disposable vapes are set to be banned as part of plans to tackle the rising number of young people taking up vaping, the government said last month.