On June 1, the sale of single-use, disposable vapes was banned in the UK, with retailers warned of hefty fines or even imprisonment should they continue to sell these products.
Secret shoppers, from online nicotine product retailer Haypp, visited various vape stores across nine major UK cities, including London, Cardiff and Glasgow, to uncover if retailers were complying with the ban.
Despite the well-publicised ban and the risk of prosecution, Haypp’s secret shoppers found almost a quarter (23 per cent) of shops are still selling outlawed disposable vapes one month on from the ban. Additionally, a previous Haypp study found that 34 per cent of vape users would consider buying a disposable vape post-ban, indicating an appetite amongst consumers to buy on a disposable vape black market, which seems to be forming.
Glasgow and London were the worst offenders, while Birmingham, Nottingham, and Sheffield also had shops willing to sell disposables. By contrast, none of the shops visited in Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, or Manchester sold a disposable vape to the mystery shoppers.
It was mostly independent vape stores that were in breach of the ban, yet in Birmingham, one local outlet of a major national convenience store chain was caught selling a disposable vape to a mystery shopper!
The undercover report also found that some retailers said they would sell disposable vapes, but only by the box, not individually. Other shops would accept cash only and would not provide a receipt.
“Banning disposable vapes was always going to lead to black market activity by unscrupulous retailers," said Markus Lindblad, Head of External Affairs at Haypp. "It will require a substantial amount of resources to enforce this ban. While consumers might be tempted to buy disposable vapes on the black market, we urge them not to. If they are not worried about the legal consequences, they should be worried about their health, as many of these products could be counterfeit, untested and unsafe.”