Concern Over Number of Illegal Cigarettes in Yorkshire
Almost a quarter of cigarettes in Yorkshire are illegal, according to figures out this morning.
Thousands of packets were tested during a month long crackdown.
We’re now being warned that cut price, counterfeit cigarettes could be causing children to take up the habit.
“Generally adults don’t start smoking, it’s children that start smoking,” says West Yorkshire Trading Standards manager David Strover.
“The average pocket money for a 15-year-old is around £6 a week, or so I’m told.
“You can’t buy legitimate packets of cigarettes for £6 a week, so one of the fears we have at Trading Standards is that cheap and illicit tobacco does make it more affordable for children to start smoking.
“It can also affect the local community in that local shopkeepers can suffer unfair competition.”
The figures from MSIntelligence show that 24.5 per cent of all packs in Yorkshire and Humberside are either illegal or purchased outside of the UK.
They are therefore contributing nothing whatsoever to the exchequer.
The figures don't include hand-rolled tobacco, for which HMRC estimates that as much as half of UK consumption is sourced on the black market.