Councillors urged to spread message of counterfeit cigarette convictions

COUNCILLORS have been urged to help spread the word about businesses in their area that are prosecuted for selling illegal tobacco or vapes.

West Yorkshire Joint Services – which runs Trading Standards - gave a presentation of its work to members of Bradford Council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Thursday evening.

Among the updates was detail of prosecutions of local business that were caught by Trading Standards selling counterfeit tobacco, illegal vapes and those who have sold such products to children.

Andy Robson, Director of West Yorkshire Joint Services, said court fines were often limited, and by themselves were not always enough to put businesses of selling illegal tobacco.

He said: “We need to make it less attractive for people who want to carry out criminal activity. In some cases we seize large quantities of items from businesses. That hits offenders in the pocket much harder than a fine that they would get in court.”

He said one issue was many business are now “getting wise” to enforcement techniques. Members were told: “We see a lot of stock stored in concealed cupboards or in hatches operated by mobile technology. We have to keep one step ahead of them. We use sniffer dogs to get round this problem, but it is a challenge.”

Councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley) asked if Trading Standards worked to revoke licences for businesses selling illegal tobacco, adding: “Losing their licence will hit them harder than a £120 court fine.

Mr Robson said while Trading Standards cannot remove a business’ licence, they do put together as much evidence as possible to allow organisations like Bradford Council to revoke licences.

He pointed out that businesses don’t require a licence to sell cigarettes or vapes – so any revocation would have to focus on the business’ alcohol licence. The argument would be that if a business is selling illegal tobacco, or selling to underage customers, they are not fit to hold a licence to sell alcohol.

Mr Robson said: “One problem is if a business is family run – the business licence might be in the name of one person. If they get convicted the licence might be re-applied for by their brother or wife. That is a flaw in the licensing system.”

Councillor Nussrat Mohammed (Lab, Heaton) asked if prosecutions of businesses were publicised, adding: “It could act as a deterrent to other people who want to get into this illegal business.”

Mr Robson said the convictions were always publicised online, and urged Councillor to help name and shame the criminal businesses in their community, as this could prove to be a more effective punishment than any fine handed out by the court. He said: “I would encourage all Councillors to circulate these convictions. These individuals take a risk, but if they are only fined £120 and make tens of thousands selling those products it is not much of a deterrent.”