More than 100 illegal vapes have been seized from city centre shops in Aberdeen after they were found to break safety laws.
Trading standards officers confiscated a total of 104 single-use electronic cigarettes that didn’t comply with the legal standards of selling the products in the UK.
The seized items, named HQD and Nord, were being sold at up to £12 each in two city centre shops – with flavours such as ice cream, blueberry, apple crush, and chocolate.
Officers found most of the products had been distributed in defiance of the safety regulations and could not be remanufactured to bring them into compliance.
Under UK law, the safe legal standard for the capacity of an e-cigarette tank is 2ml, but many of those seized were more than double the amount – ranging from 5ml to 8.5ml.
Many of the vapes were also missing the necessary name and address of a UK contact, along with essential instructions for use, and health and safety warnings.
‘Worrying’ rise in underage vapes sales
Aberdeen City Council’s trading standards manager Graeme Paton warned of an increase in vapes being sold to underaged people and urged the public to be wary of illegal products.
He said: “Our trading standards team is working hard to get these illegal products removed from shop shelves, protecting the health and wellbeing of Aberdeen consumers, and making sure that retailers and wholesalers are only selling legal vaping products.
Trading standards officers have seized more than 100 illegal vapes from two city shops.
The seized products named HQD and NORD were up to £12 each – with flavours such as ice cream, blueberry, apple crush, and chocolate.
More information 👉 https://t.co/rAWzcTs1Yb pic.twitter.com/isX0VKMEY1— Aberdeen City Council (@AberdeenCC) April 4, 2022
“We are seeing a worrying rise in complaints about shops selling vaping products to under 18s.
“We’d like to remind all shops selling vapes to check they can be sold in the UK, and for people using them to check the capacity for an e-cigarette tank and that if there are no statutory warnings or instructions, they should be aware these items will probably be illegal.”
Warning of new illegal disposable vapes in Aberdeen
Concerns were then raised children may have been attracted to the products due to them having fruit, mint and cotton candy flavours.
More than 3,000 disposable vaping devices were also removed from sale in the Highlands in February as they lacked necessary labels, instructions and warnings.
Trading standards officers have now advised parents to be aware of new illegal disposable vapes, which have recently been found for sale in Edinburgh, but are likely to also be on sale in Aberdeen.
The devices come in the form of fidget spinners which light up when they are spun and come in a range of flavours and colours.
Officers warned they lack information for their use and any storage instructions, or have any of the required health warnings that all disposable vapes must have.
Anyone who spots illegal vapes for sale or believes that a shop may be selling vaping products to under 18s should report the details to the Aberdeen City trading standards team at tradingstandards@aberdeencity.gov.uk