Over 90,000 cigarettes and vehicle seized following raid on Grimsby shops

Working in partnership with Humberside Police during, teams investigated two shops in the town, recovering a range of tobacco products and a car with an estimated value of over £120,000.

In addition to the vapes and cigarettes, around 40kg of tobacco was also recovered from the properties on the East Marsh. North East Lincolnshire's Trading Standards team carried out the inspections whilst supporting Humberside Police's Day of Action on the East Marsh.

Enquiries are ongoing while the products are fully examined and tested.

By law, vapes should have an internal tank capacity of no more than 2ml, and the level of nicotine contained in the vaping fluid should not exceed 20mg/ml (or 2 per cent).

As with tobacco products, these items are required to display certain health warnings and every such device, and the liquid it contains, should be registered with the MHRA (Medicines and Health care products Regulatory Agency) prior to being released onto the market.

Councillor Ron Shepherd, portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities, said: “This joint operation shows just how important it is to work together. Multi-agency operations such as these are keeping these products, that do not meet safety standards and are putting lives at risk, off the streets. We know illicit and fake cigarettes do not comply with the Reduced Ignition Propensity requirements and won’t self-extinguish, so are likely to start a fire.

“When you buy these products, you could be putting your own health at risk. Not only has no duty been paid on them but they’ve not been tested to ensure they’re safe.”

He added: “It is important to remember that whilst legitimate disposable vaping bars can be a very useful aid to smokers who are wanting to quit, they still have potential health issues as a result of use,  and should never be purchased and used by non-smokers”.

Speaking about quitting smoking, Cllr Stan Shreeve, Portfolio holder for Heath, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care,  said: “I urge smokers in our region to use the support services on offer to help them to quit smoking.

“We have so many examples of people turning their lives around completely after quitting smoking with support from the Wellbeing Team, and you only have to look at the figures released today to see what a positive impact that could have for everyone.”

It’s never too late to stop smoking, and with professional help and stop smoking medication, people are three times more likely to quit for good.

To report the sale of illicit tobacco products, email trading.standards@nelincs.gov.uk or call (01472) 326299, option 3.