Shops face coughing up £2500 in underage smoking law blitz

Published on Saturday 29 September 2007 12:38

SHOP owners will face a crackdown on the sale of cigarettes to underage customers from Monday when the legal age for buying tobacco rises from 16 to 18.

Test purchasers - trained teenage volunteers who will try to buy cigarettes despite being underage - will be used by the city council's trading standards officers in the month-long clampdown.

Anyone found selling tobacco to people who are underage could face a fine of up to 2500. Information packs featuring new posters and stickers have been sent to shops across the country and if a shop fails to display the correct signs they could also incur a fine of 1000.

But retail groups say the changes have not been well advertised and could lead to confrontations between young smokers and shop staff. They say there should have been a high-profile television, newspaper and billboard campaign and the Government has so far focused its efforts on the internet.

A survey for CitizenCard, the UK's leading commercial proof of age card, found one in five people aged between 16 and 18 were not aware of the change in the law.

Kevin Hawkins, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Retailers are well aware of the change and have been doing their bit to inform customers but we are concerned that some 16 and 17-year-olds may not know that they can no longer buy tobacco products.

"Refusing to sell something on Monday that they could on Sunday could create conflict, leaving shop workers in the firing line."

Dennis Williams, owner of the Broadway Convenience Store in Oxgangs Broadway, said he was concerned the lack of publicity would lead to problems.

He said: "This is a good idea, and I think in the long run it will make life easier for us as it is now in line with the age restriction for alcohol.

"The problem is that we are now just a few days away from this legislation coming in and there has not been any real effort made to advertise the change.

"If people don't know about this then it will be the shopkeepers and their staff who get the backlash from angry customers who discover they can't buy their cigarettes any more."

The change to the law, which also comes into effect in England and Wales on Monday, will be backed up by regular visits and checks by trading standards officers.

More than 22,000 information packs have been sent to retailers across Scotland by the Scottish Government, advising them of the change in the law and providing them with posters and leaflets for display.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison said the change would help stop youngsters smoking.

She said: "It sends out a clear message that tobacco is a highly dangerous substance and will hopefully prevent young people from taking up smoking in the first place.

"Raising the age to 18 will also make it easier for shopkeepers to identify whether young people are old enough to buy cigarettes, through a passport, a driving licence or a proof-of-age card.

"As part of a wider range of measures we are taking forward - including prevention education, tougher enforcement and help for young people to give up smoking - I am confident the number of young people smoking will continue to fall."