As the government pushes forward with its decision to implement bans, one small town in Northamptonshire offers up why this is a misguided policy. Despite there being sufficient laws in place to restrict teen vape purchasing, enforcement has been the major problem because of a lack of funding. Meanwhile, the rewards are huge for gangs supplying illegal Chinese-made products. In Wellingborough, raids on just four shops revealed over £75,000 worth of illicit tobacco and vapes.
A joint operation executed by the Wellingborough Neighbourhood Policing Team, in partnership with Trading Standards, saw more than £75,000 worth of illegal tobacco and vapes seized.
On November 12, this year, police officers and representatives from Trading Standards visited five premises in the town and discovered that four out of five of them were selling illegal products.
In total, 11,480 cigarettes, 2.3kg of tobacco and almost one thousand vaping devices were seized from the four shops with a total value of £77,260.
Further investigations into the stores have now commenced.
Neighbourhood Policing Sergeant Nic Nawaz said: “People may see the sale of illicit tobacco as a low-level crime but the truth is, not only can it be very dangerous for people’s health, it can also be a sign of more sinister serious and organised crime.
“As a neighbourhood policing team, our job is to keep our local area safe and so I am pleased with this seizure of illegal goods as it demonstrates that we will not tolerate any kind of criminal activity in our town.
“I would encourage anyone with concerns about where they’re living to contact their local neighbourhood policing team so we can help.”
Sinister serious and organised crime.
The UK black market in vapes has been growing due to the potentially huge profit margins on offer. With serial underfunding to Trading Standards enforcement, supply lines have become entrenched and expertise developed. When disposables are banned and – worst case scenario – eliquid flavours follow, what do politicians think is going to happen?
We can look back to America’s alcohol prohibition era and the violence that followed. We can look down under to the fire-bombing campaigns and murders in Australia as gangs fight for territories to sell their illegal vape products.
Does the government seriously think teens will simply stop accessing nicotine products? Does it believe that adults won’t seek out the devices and flavours that helped them to successfully stop smoking? Such beliefs would be naïve in the extreme given what we know happens in these circumstances.
According to Statista, there were 49,388 convenience stores in Great Britain in 2023. If the 4 out of 5 ratio is replicated across GB then that would mean around 40,000 shops are carrying illegal stock – which, at the value found in Wellingborough would equate to a black market worth £750,000,000. Given that illicit vapes are also sourced from other areas means the black market is even larger.
Wellingborough isn’t an enforcement success story, it’s a clear warning.
Photo Credit:
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash, cropped and resized

Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.