The successful prosecution was brought by our trading standards team following an investigation.
Adeal Ali, representing AM News Sheff Ltd. which trades as Spire News at 33 Burlington Street, Chesterfield, appeared before Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court on Monday (6 October 2025) and pleaded guilty to a charge of selling nicotine inhaling products (vapes) to an underage person.
Last November our trading standards officers carried out a test purchase at the shop, resulting in 2 Insta Max 20K disposable vapes being sold by an employee of the business to a young person who was under the age of 18 years. No attempt was made to verify their age or check their ID and the employee offered advice on how to use the vapes.
The test purchase was made because the shop had previously failed an underage sales exercise and received comprehensive advice from trading standards with the aim of helping the business avoid committing similar offences.
Our Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, Councillor Dawn Abbott, said:
“The law is very clear that vapes and similar nicotine-containing products must not be supplied to young people due to a potential health risk.
“Trading standards do their utmost to protect consumers and to prevent shopkeepers breaking the law, and in this case unfortunately, their comprehensive advice to the business has not been followed.
“Although we recognise that vapes can be a tool to help existing smokers quit, we are seeing large numbers of young people taking up vaping, potentially leading to a lifetime of addiction.
“We hope that the fine the court has imposed in this case will be a deterrent to any retailer tempted to sell vapes to young people.”
People wanting to report any suspicions of the sale of vapes to underage people or supply of illicit vapes should report them to the Citizens Advice consumer helpline telephone: 0808 2231133 or Crimestoppers telephone: 0800 555111.