Illegal Tobacco, Vaping Products and Alcohol

Illegal Tobacco, Vaping Products and Alcohol

We are committed to stopping the supply of illegal tobacco, vaping products and alcohol in Newcastle. 

We regularly work with Northumbria Police, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and Immigration Enforcement to target those responsible. Our efforts have seen hundreds of thousands of illegal cigarettes, illegal vaping products and significant quantities of bootleg drink seized from homes and businesses.

Report illegal tobacco and alcohol

You can report anyone selling illegal tobacco and alcohol to us anonymously.
Report illegal tobacco or alcohol. 
You can report issues using our online form
You can also contact us by phone or email. To do so:
call 0191 278 7878. email Trading Standards  
 

Illegal tobacco and cigarettes

Trade in illicit tobacco costs the Government over £2 billion in lost tax revenue each year. 
It also:
•  increases the supply of tobacco to young people and the chance that children take up smoking
• damages businesses that do follow the rules
• harms public health
• supports crime and nuisance in our communities
• could lead to more fires in people’s homes


How to spot illegal tobacco


To spot illegal tobacco look our for:
• unusual taste
• popular brand or foreign brand names such as Raquel or Jin Ling
• cheap price (less than £5 for a pack of 20)
• health warnings on cigarette packaging that might not be in English, might not display a picture, might not be printed on a white background and may have different sized lettering to usual
• unusual packaging (spelling mistakes, wrong logos, discoloured packaging)
• the print quality of the detail on the cigarette being noticeably worse
 

Penalties for selling illegal tobacco


If you sell illicit tobacco you could be fined up to £10,000.
Trading Standards officers can refer cases to HMRC for further investigation and that can lead to:
• tobacco being seized
• fines of £2,500 to £10,000
• the loss of your licence to buy and sell tobacco
 

Tackling illegal tobacco sales in the North East


The Keep it Out campaign, led by Fresh Smoke Free North East, targets the illegal sale of tobacco.
Since 2009 it has:
• reduced the volume of illegal tobacco bought by 39%
• seen the number of smokers buying illegal tobacco fall by 10%
• saved around £36 million duty and tax
 

Stop smoking


For information and support to help you quit see: stop smoking services in Newcastle

Tobacco and Vapes Bill  

The Government has introduced the new Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

It contains:

  • New powers to restrict vape flavours, packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops to protect children.
  • ‘On the spot’ fines to be introduced to clamp down on underage sales of tobacco and vaping products of £100
  • It will also no longer be legal to give free samples of vapes to under 18s.

Additionally, the government has committed to ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes from April 2025 under separate environmental legislation.

The full announcement can be found at  Smokefree generation one step closer as Bill introduced - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Draft legislation on disposable vapes 

Defra’s draft regulations for single-use vapes have now been published. The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024 draft SI - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit tobacco

On the 29 January 2024 the Government announced a new strategy on dealing with the issue of illicit tobacco. To access the announcement go to Gov.uk.  
 

Vaping Products

The MHRA is the competent authority for the UKs notification scheme for nicotine containing Vaping products (E-cigarettes and refill containers) in Great Britain and Northern Ireland and is responsible, working with other regulatory bodies, for implementing a number of provisions under Part 6 of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR), as amended

The TRPR introduced rules which ensure:

  • minimum standards for the safety and quality of all e-cigarettes and refill containers (otherwise known as e-liquids)
  • that information is provided to consumers so that they can make informed choices
  • an environment that protects children from starting to use these products.
  • The requirements:
  • restrict e-cigarette tanks to a capacity of no more than 2ml
  • restrict the maximum volume of nicotine-containing e-liquid for sale in one refill container to 10ml
  • restrict e-liquids to a nicotine strength of no more than 20mg/ml
  • require nicotine-containing products or their packaging to be child-resistant and tamper evident
  • ban certain ingredients including colourings, caffeine and taurine
  • include new labelling requirements and warnings
  • require all e-cigarettes and e-liquids be notified and published by the MHRA before they can be sold

To access more information on the legislative requirements go to Gov.uk 

Contact us


To contact our Trading Standards service:
write to Trading Standards, Directorate of City Operations, Neighbourhoods and Regulatory Services, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH
Phone: 0191 2116102. Email Trading Standards 
 

We also, twice a year, publish a Trading standards newsletter. For the latest edition see:
High Standard (pdf 1.7 mb)
 

The impact of our work


For more information about some of our successful enforcement actions see:

Sniffer dog Cooper finds an illegal stash of tobacco hidden deep inside a brick-built barbecue.

Illegal haul of vapes and tobacco seized

Bensham and Newcastle police raids uncover £70,000 worth of suspected illegal tobacco and vapes

Newcastle shop closes over allegations it sold vapes to children

More than £200,000 worth of cigarettes seized in crackdown on illegal goods

Trading standards seize 76,000 illegal vapes in Newcastle after 'explosion' in e-cigarette sales

Police and trading standards seize £80,000 in illegal cigarettes, vapes and tobacco in Bensham raid

'I spent a day with a Newcastle City Council Trading Standards Officer - helping seize illegal products'

Jordan North: How safe is vaping for my health?
 

Did you know?

Operation CeCe which is a HMRC sponsored operation delivered by National Trading Standards through local authorities is now fully implemented and achieving significant results across Newcastle.  In 2021-2022 we seized some 611,514 suspected alleged cigarettes together with 194.84 Kg's of suspected alleged Hand Rolling Tobacco. In  2022-2023 we seized some 584,220 suspected illegal cigarettes and 166.15 Kg's of suspected illegal Hand Rolling Tobacco.

In the first three quarters of 2023-2024 we have seized some 422,880 suspected illegal cigarettes and 136.6 Kg's of suspected illegal Hand Rolling Tobacco.  

When unlicensed premises are found to be selling illegal tobacco and alcohol, they are at risk of prosecutions as well as the possibility of a Closure Order under the provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. To see where Closure Orders have been applied for by  Northumbria Police and granted on 3 premises in Newcastle go to the Chronicle of the 26 June 2023 and Tyne Tees of the 26 June 2023.   

Since 2021 as part of Operation Joseph which is delivered on behalf of the Government by the National Trading Standards Board, we have seized and removed from the market some 79,400 non-compliant and illegal vaping products. To see an article related to this work go to the Chronicle of the 15 December 2023.  

Related Pages

Need more information?

Keep It Out

Online Report Form

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