Barking and Dagenham Council is continuing to ensure the safety of young people and last week ran an underage test purchase operation for the selling of vapes.

The operation took place across the borough and involved a 15 and 16-year-old attempting to purchase vapes from 13 different businesses.

11 of the businesses passed the test, which took place on Friday 12 August, but unfortunately two premises failed and sold nicotine-containing vapes to the young people.

It’s illegal in the UK to sell cigarettes or vapes with nicotine to anyone aged under 18 and the business plus salesperson can be prosecuted for this.

Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “We need to ensure that businesses are protecting our young people and not selling them products that are for adults only, whether that be alcohol, cigarettes or vapes.

“I’d like to encourage all businesses to make sure that their staff are trained appropriately and if they’re not sure of someone’s age, they should ask for identification.”

Trading Standards Officers have spoken to both businesses about the importance of not selling vapes to people under 18 and are considering further legal action.

In recent weeks, the council has also carried out underage purchases for alcohol and cigarettes.

If a resident is aware of a business selling products to underage children, they should report them to tradingstandards@lbbd.gov.uk.