THE OWNER of a Warwickshire vape business has been prosecuted for selling illegal products.
Warwickshire Trading Standards officers seized hundreds of illegal disposable nicotine vapes from Warwickshire Vape Ltd trading as Royal Vapes, which has premises in Kenilworth, Leamington, Nuneaton and Warwick.
The business had been warned to remove the products from sale but had failed to do so. Vapes seized included Elux Legend 3500 Blueberry Raspberry and R&M Tornado 7000 Skittles.
Business director Luke Benjamin Spencer, aged 41 of Haddon Road, Leamington, pleaded guilty to seven offences at Coventry Magistrates Court. He was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work under a 12-month community order and pay £4,592 prosecution costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
The offences related to the sale of disposable vapes that contained more nicotine containing liquid than the legal 2ml limit and vapes that used images and wording associated with trade marked sweet products, specifically Skittles and Ribena.
Mr Hunt, representing Mr Spencer, said that his client’s offending had not been deliberate. However, magistrates heard that Mr Spencer had been in business selling vapes for 10 years and had a staff of 18 employees and found it surprising that Mr Spencer said he was naïve.
Magistrates considered there to be high culpability, and high level of harm in respect of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 offences and aggravating factors of financial gain, risk to others and failure to comply with advice from Trading Standards.
In Mitigation, Mr Hunt said his client was previously of good character and had made an early guilty plea.
Further, there were now active measures in place in the business to ensure that only compliant products are sold, including a compliance policy and compliance manager who review all products for sale.
Magistrates also granted a deprivation order for the forfeiture and destruction of over 500 illegal nicotine inhaling vapes seized from the business.
