Health Secretary Wes Streeting launches new e-cigarettes crack team at Trading Standards and on-the-spot fines for sellers of illicit vapes and illegal tobacco
A crackdown is being launched by the Government on the illicit and underage sale of e-cigarettes.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is launching a new vaping crack team and confirmed plans for on-the-spot fines and to sellers of vapes and illegal tobacco sold “under the counter to kids barely in their teens”. It comes after the black market sale in illicit vapes resulted in several school pupils being hospitalised and one left in a coma in recent years after they were found to contain ‘zombie drug’ Spice.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is expected to gain Royal Assent this week and will include new enforcement measures as well as recruiting 120 new Trading Standards agents specialising in tobacco and vapes. They will liaise closely with UK Border Force and HMRC to tackle the illegal vape trade.
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Writing in the Mirror today, Mr Streeting said: “We are taking decisive steps to protect children, support honest shopkeepers, and shut down the criminal networks shamelessly exploiting this unsavoury trade and profiting off vulnerable, impressionable kids.
“Selling these products to children is not a minor offence, it is an assault on innocence, good health, and future potential.
“Before we came to power, I said we’d come down like a tonne of bricks on those exploiting and undermining the health of our youth and the safety of our communities. That’s why we are introducing on-the-spot fines of £200 for those caught breaking the law. No questions asked. No excuses.”
The crackdown will fine shopkeepers £200 if found to have sold vapes to those under-18. There will also be fixed penalty notices of £2,500 for those selling tobacco, vapes and other smoking products without a licence.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill includes powers to establish a retail licensing scheme and breaches can also result in criminal prosecutions. This scheme will set out requirements for producers and manufacturers before an e-cigarette product can be sold to consumers.
It comes after the Mirror reported from Europe’s biggest heart conference last year where research was presented showing e-cigarettes could increase stroke risk by a third. Experts warned of a “vaping epidemic” among the young.
While still promoted as a quitting aid for smokers by the NHS, ministers are concerned about young people taking up vaping who have never smoked.
It is against the law for retailers to sell nicotine-containing vaping products to under-18s and adults are also prohibited from buying them for youngsters.
According to 2025 data from ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), some 7% of 11–17-year-olds in the UK currently vape, with 20% – over a million – having tried it. Four in ten of those who vape do so daily. Polling last year suggested that most under-18s who vape are getting e-cigarettes on the online black market.
The spate of school pupils being hospitalised due to Spice containing vapes was linked to youngsters buying e-cigarettes thinking they contained cannabis. Such illegal vapes are commonly promoted via social media sites such as TikTok. Spice is a synthetic form of cannabis and criminal sellers have substituted it for the THC component in cannabis as it is cheaper.
Wes Streeting – Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Parents across this country are worried, frightened, and angry. And with good reason. They see brightly packaged vapes in the hands of their children. They see illegal tobacco sold under the counter – to kids barely in their teens.
Even worse, they see criminal gangs profiting while putting their children’s lives at risk.
I share their fears, frustration, and outrage because I see it too. We all do. And the crooks pushing it couldn’t care less because they think they’re untouchable. Which is why this government is cracking down hard on illicit sales of tobacco and vapes.
With the Tobacco and Vapes Bill completing its passage through Parliament, we are taking decisive steps to protect children, support honest shopkeepers, and shut down the criminal networks shamelessly exploiting this unsavoury trade and profiting off vulnerable, impressionable kids.
Selling these products to children is not a minor offence, it is an assault on innocence, good health, and future potential. It is dangerous, irresponsible, and it fuels wider criminality.
Before we came to power, I said we’d come down like a tonne of bricks on those exploiting and undermining the health of our youth and the safety of our communities. That’s why we are introducing on-the-spot fines of £200 for those caught breaking the law. No questions asked. No excuses.
No more delays, no more loopholes and swift consequences for those who put profit before public health. We are backing this up with serious investment and additional boots on the ground by recruiting 120 new Trading Standards apprentices specialising in tobacco and vapes, working alongside Trading Standards colleagues, Border Force and HMRC. Their mission is simple: take the fight directly to those flooding our communities with illegal products.
We are also planning to introduce a retail licensing scheme. If you want to sell tobacco or vapes in this country, you will need a licence. If you break the rules, you face fines of £2,500 or even criminal prosecution.
If you’re a responsible business owner, you have nothing to fear. Rogue traders? We’re calling time on your disregard for our children’s health, safety and wellbeing. We are coming for you. You will be driven out of the market.
And to those who say these measures lead to an increase in the illicit market, they are wrong. History proves when the smoking age was increased from 16 to 18 the number of illicit cigarettes consumed fell by 25%, and smoking rates for 16 and 17-year-olds dropped by almost a third.
This new law builds on the strong work already underway. Major enforcement operations have already seized millions of illegal cigarettes and tonnes of illicit tobacco, and they are stepping up the pace.
To parents, to clinicians, and to every decent retailer: we are on your side. This is about protecting children from addiction, keeping high streets safe, and cutting off funding for organised crime.
Those who break the law should hear this loud and clear: we are coming for your profits, your products, and your operations. And we will not stop until this threat is stamped out.
