Illegal vapes and out of date food seized from shops in Walsall

Officers from Walsall Council Trading Standards worked together with the St Matthews neighbourhood policing team to target a number of town centre shops selling illegal goods on Thursday.

In one town centre shop, 352 illegal disposable vapes with a street value of around £4,400 were seized.

Disposable vapes must contain two per cent nicotine and have a 2ml e-liquid capacity, which equates to about 600 puffs.

Some of the seized vapes had 10,000 puffs.

The non-compliant vapes were hidden in drawers under the counter.

Vapes such as these are often fruit flavoured and brightly coloured which makes them more attractive to children.

The sting also saw out-of-date food items seized that should not have been on sale.

Councillor Garry Perry, Walsall Council's deputy leader and portfolio holder for resilient communities, said: “I am continually shocked and appalled at the number of dangerous illegal vapes being sold in Walsall. They are a danger to people’s health and they are getting into the hands of children.

“A big well done to the Trading Standards officers and West Midlands Police for their work in reducing the number of illegal goods being sold and clamping down on business owners.

"I hope this serves as a reminder that we have a high standard for those doing business in the borough, and zero tolerance for people breaking the law and endangering our communities.”

Sergeant Neil Derry, neighbourhood policing supervisor at Walsall neighbourhood police unit, said: “We have an excellent working relationship with Walsall Council and we were only too happy to provide assistance to Trading Standards officers during this successful operation.”

As well as seizing illegal goods, officers also provided advice to a number of shops, helping them to achieve compliance.

This included reminders on the law prohibiting the sale of knives and vapes to under 18s and providing advice on implementing a 'No ID No Sale' policy.

Further guidance was also given to a shop selling foods without any English labelling.