Seven of nine Nottingham retailers tested in an underage vape purchase operation sold nicotine inhaling products to children without asking for proof of age, council and police officers have found.
The checks were carried out by Nottingham City Council Trading Standards with Nottinghamshire Police, using supervised underage volunteers at premises suspected of selling nicotine products, including vapes, to children.
The result means most of the businesses visited failed to apply age checks during the operation. Those retailers are now under further investigation and could face formal action, prosecution and more compliance visits.
Seven failures in nine test visits
Underage volunteers visited nine premises across Nottingham during the targeted operation. At seven of them, they were able to buy nicotine inhaling products without being challenged for identification.
Trading Standards said the findings raise serious concerns about retailers failing to follow laws designed to stop children accessing nicotine products. The operation forms part of wider partnership work linked to Nottinghamshire Police’s Operation Reclaim, which targets criminality, business crime and wider community safety issues.
For parents and families, the immediate concern is access. Vapes and other nicotine inhaling products are age-restricted because they can be harmful and highly addictive, particularly for children and young people.
The latest operation follows similar local concern after previous Nottingham vape checks found retailers selling nicotine products to underage volunteers.
The rules retailers must follow
Under the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015, it is illegal to sell nicotine inhaling products to anyone under 18.
Retailers are expected to operate Challenge 25 policies. That means staff should ask for valid identification from anyone who appears to be under 25 before selling restricted products.
Businesses selling vapes or other nicotine inhaling products are also expected to keep staff training up to date, apply age checks consistently and maintain refusals registers. A refusals register records occasions when a sale is declined because the customer cannot prove they are old enough.
Nottingham City Council Trading Standards said businesses wishing to obtain a refusals register can contact the service on 0115 844 5018.
Council warning after high failure rate
Councillor Matt Shannon, Executive Member for Community Protection, Neighbourhoods and Equalities at Nottingham City Council, described the findings as deeply alarming and said retailers had clear legal responsibilities.
“It is reprehensible that businesses were willing to illegally sell nicotine products to children,” he said. “The fact that this operation found such a high failure rate is deeply alarming and demonstrates that too many retailers are failing in their legal responsibilities.”
He said the council would continue working with Nottinghamshire Police to take action against businesses that flout the law, and that outcomes of enforcement action would be made public once any court proceedings had concluded.
“These products are harmful and highly addictive, particularly for children and young people,” he said. “Any retailer selling them to under-18s is making a conscious decision to put profit ahead of the wellbeing of Nottingham’s young people.”
Operation Reclaim and shop closures
Chief Inspector Kylie Davies said businesses that fail to act responsibly would be dealt with accordingly.
“We have already closed four vape shops in and around the city centre as part of Op Reclaim, which is tackling criminality including business crime,” she said.
Operation Reclaim is aimed at tackling criminality, protecting communities and making Nottingham a safer and more welcoming place to live, work and visit. The underage sales work sits within that wider enforcement approach, alongside checks on businesses suspected of breaching age-restricted product laws.
Further checks and possible prosecution
The seven businesses that failed the test purchase operation are now subject to further investigation. Formal action could include prosecution, depending on the evidence and the outcome of the enforcement process.
Retailers may also face further compliance checks. Trading Standards has reminded all businesses selling nicotine inhaling products to ensure staff understand the law, apply Challenge 25 in practice and record refused sales correctly.
Source: Nottingham City Council
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- Nottingham City Council
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- Nottingham
- Updated
- 2026-06-05 11:26
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