Three retailers have been found guilty of selling nicotine inhaling products to someone under the age of 18 following multiple Essex Trading Standards investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cihan Medet Topal, director of The Red Shop Harlow Ltd in Town Centre Market, was fined \u00a3461 and must pay a victim surcharge of \u00a3184 and \u00a35,000 in costs. The company was fined \u00a3769 with a victim surcharge of \u00a3308 and \u00a34,696.80 in costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mallikarjuna Reddy Devi Reddy, director of Arjun Traders Limited on Colchester High Street, was fined \u00a3323. He must also pay a victim surcharge of \u00a3129 and \u00a34,000 in costs. The company was fined \u00a3538 with a victim surcharge of \u00a3215 and \u00a34051.90 in costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aznibaan Limited on Braintree High Street was fined \u00a3133 and must pay a victim surcharge of \u00a353 and \u00a311,200 in costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essex Trading Standards began their investigations following complaints by members of the public about age-restricted products being sold to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each retailer received advisory visits in early 2025 before Essex Trading Standards carried out underage test purchasing operations in April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each operation saw a nicotine-inhaling product being sold to a 14-year-old volunteer without ID checks being carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Topal sold a Hayati Pro Max Juicy Peach 4000 Plus vape with 20mg\/10ml nicotine. This was also an oversized vape which is illegal to sell in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Devi Reddy sold a Vuse Go Blackcurrant Ice disposable vape with 2% nicotine, while Aznibaan Limited sold a Big Bar Lemon & Lime Vape with 2% nicotine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councillor Mark Durham, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards at Essex County Council, said: \u201cVaping is worryingly accessible and appealing to young people. Although for adults it can be a way to stop smoking, it is highly addictive, introduces chemicals into the lungs and not at all suitable for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSellers of age-restricted goods, including vapes, must ensure they are vigilant and always ask to see proof of age before making a sale to a young person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They must have robust processes in place, including staff training, to guard against any illegal underage sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese prosecutions show how seriously we take this issue. Businesses which break the law in Essex will be targeted by Trading Standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cllr Peter Schwier ISEP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cabinet Member for Environment, Waste Reduction & Recycling, <\/strong>Chair, East of England Regional Climate Change Forum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hedingham Division, Essex County Council<\/p>\n\n\n\n Renewal, Equality & Ambition<\/p>\n\n\n\n Safer, Greener, Healthier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three retailers have been found guilty of selling nicotine inhaling products to someone under the age of 18 following multiple Essex Trading Standards investigations. Cihan Medet Topal, director of The Red Shop Harlow Ltd in Town Centre Market, was fined \u00a3461 and must pay a victim surcharge of \u00a3184 and \u00a35,000 in costs. The company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":817,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppesfield-pc.gov.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}