Secret shoppers working on behalf of online nicotine product retailer, Haypp, visited various vape stores across nine major UK cities, including London, Cardiff and Glasgow, to uncover if retailers were complying with the ban.
Despite the well-publicised ban and the risk of prosecution, the firm’s secret shoppers found almost a quarter (23%) of shops are still selling outlawed disposable vapes over a month on from the ban.
Additionally, a Haypp study found 34% of vape users would consider buying a disposable vape post-ban, indicating an appetite to buy on the black market.
Glasgow and London were the worst offenders, while Birmingham, Nottingham and Sheffield also had shops willing to sell such disposables. By contrast, none of the shops visited in Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, or Manchester sold a disposable vape to the mystery shoppers.
Haypp found that it was largely independent vape stores that were flaunting the ban - yet in Birmingham, one local outlet of a major national convenience store chain was caught selling a disposable vape to a mystery shopper.
The undercover report also found that some retailers said while they would still sell disposable vapes, it would be only by the box and not individually. Other shops would only accept cash and wouldn’t provide a receipt.
Markus Lindblad, head of external affairs at Haypp, said: “Banning disposable vapes was always going to lead to black market activity by unscrupulous retailers. It will require a substantial number of resources to enforce this ban.
“While consumers might be tempted to buy disposable vapes on the black market, we urge them not to. If they’re not worried about the legal consequences, they should be worried about their health, as many of these products could be counterfeit, untested and unsafe.”
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