The council has closed down a shop in the town centre for illegal sales of tobacco and vapes – 18 months after a member of the public raised the alarm over counterfeit goods.
Stopped shop: the tobacco and vapes shop had counterfeit goods hidden away
Stop and Shop at 79 Church Street was reported to the council in November 2023, after a resident buying a packet of cigarettes suspected that they were counterfeit.
The trading standards team at the cash-strapped council undertook a number of test purchases and raids, each time seizing sizeable quantities of illicit goods. “The business failed to take measures to operate within the law and was deemed to be intentionally selling illegal products,” the council said.
The raids, including with search dogs, found that the shop housed numerous purpose-built hidden compartments, which were found to contain hundreds of illegal tobacco products.
The council used a closure order to shut down the business and adjoining flat for three months. According to the council, this is the first closure order of that type that it has undertaken for “illicit tobacco, vapes and associated criminality”.
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