Child vape sales ‘remain high’ in Buckinghamshire, watchdog warns

A woman holds a vaping device (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)A woman holds a vaping device (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
A woman holds a vaping device (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
The number of shops selling vapes to children appears to remain high, Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards said.

A new report by the shared service says it is ‘continuing to do a high level of underage test purchasing of vapes’.

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This refers to attempts made by underage volunteers to buy vapes, the sale of which to under-18s is illegal.

Some 92 test actions have been carried out by Trading Standards so far this year, compared to 98 in 2023/24 and 24 in the 12 months before that.

The exact failure rates – what percentage of shops sold vapes to an underage volunteer – are not reported.

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However, spikes can be seen for some months, including May this year, when more than half of a dozen shops tested sold vapes to underage volunteers.

Trading Standards said: “However, there are promising signs that retailers are beginning to pay this issue more attention with no sales across 35 attempts in the summer in Surrey and some qualitative feedback in Bucks suggesting that they can’t sell to under 18s because they know Trading Standards are checking up.”

From April 2024 to the end of September, the service said it received 72 complaints about illegal vapes and alleged underage sales of vapes, compared to 256 last financial year and 214 the year before.

The number of complaints, which come from residents, police and other organisations is declining, but ‘remains starkly’ higher than any other area of the service’s work.

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