670,000 illegal cigarettes seized across Lincolnshire last year
Lincolnshire County Council says it's trying to tackle rogue traders who are putting people's health at risk
Last updated 18th Feb 2025
Lincolnshire’s Trading Standards has closed more shops than ever before as a crackdown on illegal tobacco and vaping continues.
It also seized record numbers of illicit products, with tens of thousands being taken off the streets.
Closure orders for up to three months were issued for 68 shops in 2024 after Trading Standards found evidence they were selling illegal products or ignoring age restrictions.
This was nearly three times the number of closure orders granted in the whole of the previous year.
The initial focus was on Boston, where 16 shops were forced to close after police said there was a strong link between the shops and anti-social behaviour.
This was also rolled out in Lincoln (8), Spalding (13) and most large towns in Lincolnshire.
Trading Standards worked with landlords to permanently evict 20 businesses, while others may have moved out voluntarily.
Several people were arrested after being caught re-entering a closed shop in Boston in order to move products to a new location, which was also shut down.
A total of 82 seizures took place last year across 63 different locations.
This resulted in 670,236 cigarettes, 371kg of tobacco and 16,826 illegal vapes being taken off the market.
Thirteen prosecutions were concluded in 2024, with defendants being given nearly five years in suspended sentences and more than 1,000 hours of unpaid work.
The service received over £20,000 as its share of assets seized in confiscation orders and expects to receive over £25,000 this year.
The report will be discussed by Lincolnshire County Council’s Public Protections Committee next week (February 25).
Andy Wright, Principal Lincolnshire Trading Standards Officer, previously said:
“The sale of these goods undermines the interests of law-abiding retailers whose prosperity is hindered by these criminals.
“Premises selling counterfeit goods commonly employ people with no legal right to work in the UK.
“It is often found that people working in these shops have been trafficked and coerced into criminality by those focused on profit making.
“The people who are driving these sorts of schemes are often not in the shops themselves. The people within the shops are quite often victims in their own right.”
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