Concerns over rise of South Yorkshire children accessing vapes

There are worries that electronic cigarettes are being made more accessible for children to purchase in South Yorkshire.

Vape shop owners in Sheffield city centre reported an increase in underage customers attempting to buy their products.

Andrew Caswell from ‘Vape Suite’ in Sheffield City Centre said:

“We get a lot of attempts. We’ve had to put a lot of signs up to swerve it away, but I don’t think all the bright vape colours help.”

These reports come as the Government announce new measures to crack down on the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to under 18’s with the help of ‘vape enforcement squads’.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), these task forces will conduct test purchasing at shops and share their findings with local authorities.

The squads will also have the power to remove illegal products, an initiative which above-board vape shops are in full favour of.

One e-cigarette employee said she regularly sees children in Sheffield using unregulated vapes.

“We are seeing so many kids after school times walking through town and 95% of the time, they have a vape in their hands. The vapes that they do have tend to be the Elux bars which anyone who works in a legitimate vape shop will know are illegal.”

She is pleased the government has decided to act:

“It will be nice to actually know they are going to do something about it.”

Mr Caswell is concerned by the colourful marketing which he feels makes vapes so appealing to children:

“It’s just really easy for them to access it now. There is a lot of advertisement for them on social media and a lot of them look like they are tailored to kids with the colours and flavours” he said.

Mr Caswell would like to see vapes treated like cigarettes with plain packaging:

“It shouldn’t be as colourful as what it is. It should be black and white and just simplified.”

‘Only The Vape’ in Broomhill has been open just two months but already they report disposable vapes being stolen from the shop by school aged children resulting in them keeping their doors locked during weekdays.

Mason Bryan from ‘Cigar Vape’ said the issue is illegal disposable vapes, which are very popular with underaged smokers, are not well regulated:

“It’s very easy to buy these things online, there’s not real restrictions around it” he said.

The plan to crackdown on the sale of illegal e-cigarettes to under-18s is part of a wider efforts to make the nation smoke-free.

During a Q&A event on Tuesday for conservative think-tank ‘Policy Exchange’, Health minister Neil O'Brien laid out a plan for driving smoking rates down below 5% by 2030.

The Government has ruled out raising the minimum age for buying cigarettes, despite pressure from campaigners.

Mr O'Brien said their policy will focus on "helping people to quit" rather than imposing bans.