Supermarkets refitted for tobacco ban deadline

Supermarkets in Staffordshire and the West Midlands are being refitted to remove cigarettes from display in time for the enforcement of a new law next month.

Large stores have until April 6 to get tobacco products below the counter. Newsagents and smaller shops have until April 2015.

Ministers believe that the ban on displaying cigarettes will cut the estimated 200,000 teenagers a year who take up smoking. The Association of Convenience Stores believes the ban will cost small retailers £40 million.

Sainsbury's spokesman Tom Parker said: "We will be adapting the gantries in our larger stores to meet the new legal requirements, and we have already run several pilots to ensure we are ready to make the necessary changes in time for April 6.

"We will also be thoroughly training our colleagues in stores to ensure they understand the changes. With regard to our convenience stores we will listen to any feedback we receive from customers, colleagues and the authorities to ensure that by 2015 we again have a solution."

Tesco confirmed that all of its stores would also be "fully compliant" with the law.

A cigarette vending machine firm based in South Staffordshire has already lost a High Court battle over a ban on the use of its products.

Sinclair Collis based in Four Ashes employed 150 people nationally but has since axed 30 jobs because of the new laws. Three of those went in South Staffordshire.

The company has since been working on the removal or adjustment of its 14,000 machines.

Fines of up to £2,500 could be imposed on businesses caught selling tobacco from vending machines. Licensees could face a £5,000 bill or two years in prison for advertising tobacco since a ban came into effect in October.

Sinclair Collis spokesman Simon Evans said: "It's still OK for pubs and clubs to keep vending machines behind the bar or in a back room and a third of our customers decided to keep them as secure storage units."