A Spar store in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, has been inundated with hundreds of Facebook messages from users seeking to buy banned disposable vapes.
Retailer Mohammed Tayab told Convenience Store that he has received “over 400 messages” from people requesting disposable vapes, days after the UK-wide ban came into force.
Ahead of the legislation, Mohammed bought an influx of disposables to sell before the ban came into effect. “All the wholesalers were getting rid of their stock, so we bought a lot and sold a lot. We hardly made any profit, we passed the savings on to the customers,” he said.
Shoppers came from afar, travelling miles from England and Wales to his store in Scotland just to “get a bargain”.
Frustrated Mohammed said vapers are still puzzled over the ban and the shift to rechargeables. “We still get people asking for them daily. I don’t know why we have to explain to them disposables are banned, they just don’t understand.
“Some of the rechargeable vapes look the exact same to their once single-use self as well.”
Without tough enforcement, vapers would continue to stock up on disposables from rogue traders, he warned.
Mohammed said the £200 fine for selling disposable vapes should be “raised to £5000”.
He has reported a local business known for selling a suite of illicit products - now including disposable vapes - over 10 times, but “nothing ever happens”, he said.
“We have Spar and Trading Standards regularly check our stock. They don’t bother going into these irresponsible small shops.”
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