Windsor shopkeeper pays out over £4,700 for illegal vapes

A company director and shop have been ordered to pay court fines and costs of £4,727 for selling illegal vapes in Windsor.

About 170 vapes were seized from Top Shop & Off Licence, in St Leonards Road, at the end of July last year. These were worth approximately £1,500 in retail value.

The shop is owned by Tamanpreet Singh, aged 22, of Berkeley Waye, Hounslow.

He pleaded guilty to two charges on behalf of himself and two on behalf of the company at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Friday, July 19 this year.

The charges related to product requirements and product labelling.

The vaping products contained a higher volume of nicotine-containing liquid than is legally permitted.

The maximum for disposable electronic cigarettes is two millilitres. These were up to 14 millilitres.

They were also not correctly labelled, in that the health warning was smaller than required.

Singh had received advice and warnings from Trading Standards on multiple occasions.

He must now pay total fines of £984, a victim surcharge of £394 and the Royal Borough’s costs of £742.

In addition, Baweja & Brother Limited, the company running the shop, must pay total fines of £1,332, a victim surcharge of £533 and the Royal Borough’s costs of £742.

There was also an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the vapes.

Councillor Richard Coe, cabinet member for household and regulatory services, said: “I’d like to thank the Trading Standards team for their hard work securing this successful prosecution.

“Clamping down on illegal and dangerous vaping products is essential to protect residents from dangerous or toxic products.”

“The Trading Standards team work also seeks to stop unfair trading practices from undermining other businesses which always follow the rules.

“This prosecution should be a warning to other shops in the area as to what will happen if they do not comply with the law.”

Further information about the regulations can be found at shorturl.at/K4UjV