Shop in Halesowen caught with £20,000 in illegal vapes

Steve’s News on Stourbridge Road in Halesowen was targeted in a number of sting operations to monitor the sale of age-restricted products across the borough.

A report shows that on Monday, November 14, 2022, a 15-year-old child volunteer entered Steve’s news and attempted to purchase a can of Brother’s Cider and a Crystal disposable vape, while an undercover Trading Standards officer was also present.

The report describes how the child was sold the items totalling £7, without being asked for ID “of any kind”.

The Trading Standards officer later entered the shop and identified himself explaining that the law had been breached.

Officers returned to the shop at a later date and seized 2,033 illegal vapes with an estimated value of between £15,000 and £20,000.

The report says the shop owner had informed the officers that the stock was purchased at £5,000 and he had a verbal agreement with the retailer to pay him this amount once he had sold the stock by Christmas.

All of the vapes were found to be over 600 puffs and therefore illegal to sell in the United Kingdom. The report details that some of the vapes seized had a tank size as high as 7,000 puffs.

Commenting on the incident Sgt Jon Andrews of Dudley Local Policing said: “West Midlands Police support the review of the premises licence for Steve’s News, following the sale of alcohol and a disposable vape bar, containing two per cent nicotine, to a 15-year-old child volunteer on 14 November 2022; and the subsequent seizure of over 2,000 illegal nicotine-containing vaping devices; all of which are in direct contravention of the Protection of Children From Harm & Prevention of Crime & Disorder licensing objectives.”

“There have been no recent calls for police service to the location. Based on the above, if the committee does not suspend or revoke the premises licence then we support Trading Standard’s recommendation to add the 10 conditions to the licence.”

The shop had its licence reviewed by Dudley Council’s licensing committee on Tuesday (Feb 7) and decided to remove the premises supervisor.

Following a recommendation by trading standards, they also decided to add conditions to the licence including a Challenge 25 policy, staff training and CCTV conditions as well as conditions regarding any future sales of e-cigarettes.