Teesside vaping company on the long-term impact of disposable vape ban
It's been a week since the legislation came into force
We are hearing just how much of an impact the disposable vape ban will have on Teesside long-term.
A vaping company says there is a lack of enforcement in the industry in the UK, a week after the legislation came into force.
Matt Crann is from Riot Labs, which has shops in Thornaby, Hartlepool and Darlington, and he said: "There'll always be illicit products on the market and there'll always been rogue traders selling those products and selling products to those underaged. I think the Government need to realise, and hopefully they will realise very quickly, that whilst Trading Standards are underfunded, they can create as many laws as they like, but none of them will get followed until the enforcement happens.
"There's concern around people going back to smoking with other regulations, but I don't see this as an issue personally of people now because there's so many products on the market that are simple for people to use, and the right advice is out there within the specialist vapes shops. I think if there were flavour bans or something like that, then we'd see, like we have in other markets, the black market boom, then people will go back to smoking.
"Last year, a paper was submitted to the Government that shows how licensing scheme could work and that could have great benefits on the industry and the Government and the enforcement, so a licensing scheme is the next logical step to help the vape industry and to help people get the right products and to stop rogue traders.
"A licensing scheme would self-fund the enforcement and the fines that we're calling for people selling illegal products, or to underage, is £10,000. We need real deterrence, not just a slap on the wrist and carrying on training tomrorow, which is unfortunately where we're at today."