Cigarette vending machine facing closure

A cigarette vending machine company in South Staffordshire that employs more than 150 people was today on the brink of closure after losing a major High Court battle against a Government ban on its products.

Sinclair Collis Ltd, based in Four Ashes, went to the High Court to challenge the ban on using its vending machines to sell tobacco, which it claims will put it out of business. But judge

Sir Anthony May yesterday ruled there was nothing "manifestly unreasonable" about the ban.

It has been proposed to restrict the availability of cigarettes, particularly to people under 18. Sinclair Collis is a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco. Today it revealed it would now appeal against the de-cision.

Lawyers working on behalf of the company, based in Laches Close, argued the new regulations would "destroy the tobacco vending machine industry in the UK".

Sinclair Collis owns and operates thousands of tobacco vending machines across the country and has been sent reeling by the 2009 Health Act which will ban the selling of tobacco in vending machines from October, 2011.

But Sir Anthony ruled the ban was "proportionate" to the 80,000 smoking-related deaths in the UK each year and the £2.7 billion the habit costs the NHS annually.

He said policies aimed at cutting tobacco consumption were justified by the need to cut the take-up of cigarette smoking by those under 18. He added it was a matter of "parliamentary judgment" that nothing short of a ban on tobacco vending would be enough to protect the young, and that it was not for the court to interfere.