Shropshire c-store owner fined heavily for selling oversized nicotine vapes

A Shropshire convenience store business and its owner have been ordered to pay more than £21,000 by the court after admitting to the sale of oversized nicotine containing vapes.

Telford Magistrates Court heard the case brought by Shropshire Council’s Trading Standards Team following an investigation which has resulted in the seizure of 3668 oversized vapes from the Thresher store in Shrewsbury, the Oswestry Convenience Store in Oswestry and the Londis store in Worthen.

During the court hearing last week, Showkumar Jeyaratnam on behalf of himself and his company Niro & Show Ltd UK admitted to five charges of selling oversized vapes. The business was ordered to pay fines and costs of £16,621 while Jeyaratnam was ordered to pay fines and costs of £5021, together totalling £21,642.

The business first came to the attention of the Trading Standards team following a visit to the Threshers Store in Shrewsbury and the Oswestry Convenience Store in 2022 during which 377 oversized disposable vapes were identified as having at least five times the permitted capacity for nicotine liquid. Further visits was undertaken during 2023 to all three stores in which a further 3082 illegal disposable vapes were seized.

Despite this, the council received intelligence that the Threshers store in Shrewsbury was continuing to sell these oversized vapes but had restricted the sales to the evenings believing that Council Trading Standards Officers only undertook visits during office hours. Following an unannounced test purchase in February 2024, a further 209 of these illicit vapes were seized.

Councillor Schofield, Cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, added, “Our Trading Standards team is committed to working with businesses to help them adhere to legal requirements and act in a responsible manner. However, as this case demonstrates, if needed we will proceed with enforcement where a business continues and repeatedly fails to adhere to legal controls.

“The sale of these illicit vapes undermines the legitimate market and poses a potential danger to users who may not be aware of the nicotine content or the ingredients of these products.

“We will not hesitate to take action against traders who ignore the law and we urge anyone who has concerns about illegal vapes to report them to us.”