Newham Council Trading Standards Officers have conducted a series of test purchases at local retailers to ensure compliance with age restriction rules on vaping products and alcohol.
Of the 36 businesses visited, 31 passed successfully by refusing to sell age-restricted goods. However, five businesses sold age-restricted items to the under-18-year-old volunteers and will now be investigated as part of ongoing Trading Standards enquiries.
Councillor Carleene Lee-Phakoe, Newham Council Cabinet Member for Crime & Community Safety said: “It’s pleasing to see that the majority of businesses tested successfully refused the sale of age-restricted products to minors.
“Businesses need to be extra vigilant and prevent the sale of such products to those who are underage, and I’m glad to see that our local businesses are doing so.
“We will continue to carry out testing and we will stop the minority who are breaking the rules. It’s not acceptable in Newham to sell age-restricted products to our young people.”
The council will continue to run these test purchase operations and says it has noticed that the level of compliance has increased since last year.
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