Seven of the nine Nottingham businesses tested in an underage vape operation sold nicotine products to supervised child volunteers without asking for proof of age, according to Nottingham City Council Trading Standards and Nottinghamshire Police.
The result means most of the premises visited in the targeted operation failed a basic legal safeguard designed to stop children buying nicotine inhaling products. The checks focused on retailers already suspected of selling vapes or similar nicotine products to under-18s, so the figures should not be read as a citywide retail survey.
For families and residents, the practical message is clear: enforcement teams are treating underage vape sales as a child safety issue, and retailers are being warned to tighten staff training, Challenge 25 checks and refusal records.
Seven failures from nine targeted test purchases
Underage volunteers, supervised as part of the operation, visited nine premises across Nottingham. They were able to buy nicotine inhaling products from seven of them without being challenged for identification.
| Test purchase detail | Result |
|---|---|
| Premises visited | 9 |
| Premises where products were bought | 7 |
| Premises that did not sell | 2 |
| Product type targeted | Nicotine inhaling products, including vapes |
The operation was not a random sample of every retailer in Nottingham. It targeted businesses suspected of selling nicotine products to children, which makes the failure rate a sign of enforcement concern rather than proof of wider market behaviour.
Even with that caveat, the outcome puts pressure on shops that sell vapes to show they are applying age checks consistently. A similar underage sales case involving a Hornchurch vape retailer has also shown how councils and police use supervised test purchases to check whether shops are following the rules.
Why underage vape sales are being treated as a safety issue
Nicotine inhaling products are restricted because nicotine is addictive, and children and young people are considered especially vulnerable to harm from early exposure. The Nottingham operation was framed by the council and police as part of wider work to protect communities and reduce criminality linked to local businesses.
Councillor Matt Shannon, Executive Member for Community Protection, Neighbourhoods and Equalities at Nottingham City Council, said it was “reprehensible” that businesses were willing to sell nicotine products to children. He said the high failure rate was “deeply alarming” and showed too many retailers were failing in their legal responsibilities.
He added that any retailer selling nicotine products to under-18s was putting profit ahead of the wellbeing of Nottingham’s young people.
The legal rule 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 identification from anyone who appears to be under 25, rather than waiting until a customer is clearly under 18.
Nottingham City Council Trading Standards is also reminding businesses to keep staff training up to date, apply Challenge 25 consistently and maintain refusals registers correctly. A refusals register records occasions when a sale is declined because a customer cannot prove they are old enough.
Businesses that need a refusals register can contact Nottingham City Council Trading Standards on 0115 844 5018.
Operation Reclaim enforcement now continues
The test purchase work forms part of wider partnership activity supporting Nottinghamshire Police’s Operation Reclaim, which is aimed at tackling criminality, protecting communities and making Nottingham safer for people who live, work and visit the city.
Chief Inspector Kylie Davies said any business that fails to act responsibly will be dealt with accordingly. She said four vape shops in and around the city centre had already been closed as part of Operation Reclaim, which includes work on business crime, adding wider context to how Nottingham shops shut cases fit into local enforcement activity.
The seven businesses that failed the operation are now subject to further investigation. Nottingham City Council said they may face formal action, including prosecution and further compliance checks, and that enforcement outcomes will be made public once any court proceedings have concluded.
Source: Nottingham City Council
Source check Source trail
This article is based on the Nottingham City Council account of a Trading Standards and police underage vape test purchase operation.
- Checked the number of premises visited against the number reported to have failed.
- Separated targeted test purchase findings from any wider claim about all Nottingham retail...
- Matched the legal reference to the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purch...
- Included the council contact route for businesses seeking a refusals register.
- Source
- My Nottingham News
- Scope
- Nottingham
- Updated
- 2026-06-04 22:43
Source check
Report a trust issue
Send a clear signal to community moderation if the source, facts or context need review.
Comments