Briggate Phones Limited: Leeds business owner pleads guilty after being caught selling e-cigarette to child
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Mr Sohaib Muhammad from Bradford appeared at Kirklees Magistrates Court on Monday (July 22), after it was discovered that his business Briggate Phones Limited had sold a disposable e-cig to a person under 18.
The case was launched after West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service (WYTSS) received complaints about the store selling e-cigarettes to underage children.
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In January this year, a 14-year-old volunteer entered the shop under the supervision of a Trading Standards Officer, and asked to buy an Elf Bar 600.
They were able to buy an Elf Bar 600 Banana Ice flavour disposable vape for £5 without being challenged about their age or asked for any form of ID by the seller.
After the incident, Mr Mohammad, director of the Leeds business on 55 New Briggate in Leeds city centre, was interviewed later.
In a prepared statement, he said he was the owner and sole director of Briggate Phones Limited and that he had overall responsibility for all areas of the company.
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Hide AdHe added that he has one employee who reports to him and that he had neither received nor given any formal training regarding underage sales, and has since sought advice on age restricted sales and put measures in place as well as provided training.
Mr Mohammad also accepted full responsibility for the sale and explained that he was not paying full attention at the time as he was “carrying out a difficult repair to a mobile phone”.
On pleading guilty to the offence, he was fined £107 reduced for a guilty plea and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £43 and costs of £2172.50.
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Hide AdHe also pleaded guilty to being charged with the sale of the disposable e-cigarette to a person under the age of 18 and was personally fined £184 plus a surcharge of £74.
David Strover, Head of Trading Standards (Business Services) said: “The sale of vapes to children should not be happening within our communities. We wrote to this business to make them aware of complaints we had received and informed them a test purchase may follow.
“Retailers need to ensure they have systems in place to avoid selling vapes to minors and train their staff accordingly. I would like to thank all the partners and members of the public for reporting illegal sales, and encourage everyone to continue doing so, to reduce the harm caused to children by vapes and tobacco.”
Councillor Pauleen Grahame of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee, which oversees the work of Trading Standards, added: “It is clearly irresponsible not to check the age of teenage customers wanting to purchase age restricted goods.
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Hide Ad“Test purchases are undertaken regularly by Trading Standards staff to ensure shops adhere to the law on vapes, tobacco and alcohol sales. The simple task of asking for identification and verifying the age of younger customers will help to reduce underage vaping and tobacco use.”