Individuals fined for selling butane gas, cigarettes and alcohol to kids
Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service and Warwickshire Police have stepped up their enforcement action against traders who sell age restricted
products to children by including the sale of butane gas and cigarettes, in addition to alcohol in their most recent operation.
During the month of December a total of 44 shops were visited by Trading Standards Officers and Police and 9 sales of either cigarettes, butane gas or alcohol were made to child volunteers. Officers visited a mixture of supermarkets, convenience stores, corner shops and petrol stations, acting on intelligence gathered from local communities.
All the products targeted can have serious short or longer term health implications for young people. On average one or two people die nationally every week from sniffing volatile substances and over half of those deaths are as a result of sniffing butane gas lighter refills.
Premises throughout Warwickshire were targeted:
| Area | Shops visited | Sales made | Product type |
| North Warwickshire | 8 | 2 | cigarettes/butane gas |
| Nuneaton and Bedworth | 9 | 2 | alcohol |
| Rugby | 9 | 1 | alcohol |
| Warwick | 9 | 3 | alcohol |
| Stratford | 9 | 1 | alcohol |
Supt Neil Hewison of Warwickshire Police said:
“We are keen to remind anyone who works in a shop that if you sell alcohol to anyone who is under 18 years old you are personally responsible for this offence. Four of the shop workers who sold alcohol to underage people have already been issued with £80 fixed penalty notices. Several other individuals have yet to be interviewed. A good rule of thumb is that if someone looks 21 or under, ask for their proof of age.
“In one case, the designated premises supervisor sold alcohol to an underage person. As the supervisor, this is a particularly serious offence that will go to tribunal and be recorded against the store’s licence for review at the next licensing committee.”
"This is part of an ongoing operation to reduce alcohol related anti social behaviour and violence. We will be working with Trading Standards to carry out further test purchases in your local area again soon. We will also be actively targeting over 18’s who buy alcohol and sell it on to younger people.
"If you have concerns that alcohol, cigarettes or butane gas is being sold illegally to children in your area, please tell us by calling your local station or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. We will use this information to help reduce antisocial behaviour in your neighbourhood. "
Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Protection said:
"In 2007 Trading Standards Officers and Police worked together on a large number of targeted operations to help stop the sale of alcohol and other age restricted products to children. I am delighted that the vast majority of retailers demonstrated that they took their responsibilities seriously and refused to sell.
We will however continue to take targeted intelligence led enforcement action to deal with the relatively small numbers of traders who continue to sell age restricted products to children. The sale of these goods is a contributory factor in incidences of youth crime and anti social behaviour and is damaging the health of young people."
Further investigations are being carried out with respect to individuals that sold to the child volunteers. In some cases £80 fixed penalty notices were issued to sellers. |