6 - Police Scotland North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire Council · 3 March 2025
Back to Police and Fire and Rescue Committee — 3 March 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
OFFICIAL OFFICIAL Police Scotland North Ayrshire Multi-Agency Work Around Nicotine Vapour Products 2024-2025 Partnership work with North Ayrshire Trading Standards has proven successful in North Ayrshire Police Division’s focus to tackle illicit tobacco and nicotine vapour products. In the current financial year, over 1,500 illicit vape, and over 40,000 counterfeit cigarettes / loose tobacco products have been seized for destruction. Numerous cases of counterfeit cigarette and vape sales have been submitted to the Fiscal by North Ayrshire Trading Standards. Many of these cases result in no proceedings - an issue identified across much of Scotland. Unlike vapes, counterfeit cigarettes legislation has improved since the introduction of Track & Trace penalties. HMRC fine first-time offenders up to £2,500 - increasing to £10,000+ for repeat offences. Several local successes have been made through this legislation – the specifics of which cannot be released due to live ongoing cases. Some public perception that there is a low priority to investigate reported under-aged sales is bolstered by the high-bar legislation required to prove. Police and Trading Standards investigate every age-restriction breach report – generally with a refusal by the young person or parent to provide a statement of events. This in turn means there is lack of evidence to substantiate a crime. Police and Trading Standards have no powers to close known problematic vape stores. Again, this can be perceived by the public as not tackling is the issue. Whilst a Tobacco Banning Order can be sought, it requires expensive court costs which are easily negated by transferring ownership to another name, and continuing under the same business model. Despite the legislative challenges, Ayrshire Police Division and North Ayrshire Trading Standards have responded in alternative ways to keep people safe. Our Preventions & Interventions Officer created a presentation and has delivered this to schools, parents, and professionals. This was subsequently picked up by the “IAmMeScotland Education” charity, and is now their national education programme – used over 1,000 times across all regions of Scotland. Police and Trading Standards have also partnered with North Ayrshire Alcohol & Drugs Partnership - and are on track to deliver the tobacco/vape inputs to all new secondary school pupils in North Ayrshire by the end of the year. They have also partnered with Megan McPherson (NHSA&A Public Health Speciality Registrar) to develop a Position Statement to highlight the extent of the vape issue amongst our young people. A pan-Ayrshire vape forum across multi-agencies has stemmed from this - highlighting the dangers and striving for better awareness of the dangers of these products. Police and Trading Standards would happily present to North Ayrshire Councillors and take any questions pertinent to nicotine vapour products.