Traders caught out in tobacco sting (From The Oxford Times)
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Traders caught out in tobacco sting
11:20am Thursday 29th November 2012 in News
Almost a quarter of cigarette vendors tested in a sting operation sold tobacco to children, but Oxfordshire County Council is refusing to say which ones.
Oxfordshire Trading Standards has revealed that in the 2011 to 2012 financial year, 37 shops in the county were tested and nine, or 24 per cent, sold cigarettes to someone under the age of 18.
Four pubs with vending machines were also tested, and two allowed underage people to use them.
Comments(5)
lfcaware
says...
2:23pm Thu 29 Nov 12
iklhik
says...
4:20pm Thu 29 Nov 12
Sad fact is, having had a "test purchase" conducted on me for alcohol, they deliberately use people who look much older and also dress them to look older - in my case a plaid shirt and beige coat (how many 17 year olds wear that). I always ID anyone who looks younger than 25 but I wouldn't have IDed the test purchaser except that they acted very suspiciously.
lfcaware
says...
12:12am Fri 30 Nov 12
iklhik wrote:If only all acted as you we could forget these farcical tests.
The point is that TS should be testing if shops are selling to underage kids by using someone who clearly looks 17 - if they still sell, then prosecute them to the fullest extent possible.
Sad fact is, having had a "test purchase" conducted on me for alcohol, they deliberately use people who look much older and also dress them to look older - in my case a plaid shirt and beige coat (how many 17 year olds wear that). I always ID anyone who looks younger than 25 but I wouldn't have IDed the test purchaser except that they acted very suspiciously.
Marco00
says...
11:05am Fri 30 Nov 12
snert says...
12:16pm Thu 29 Nov 12
Also, cigarette vending machines are a bit different in that they are not often monitored. I hardly expect the people in the pub said "Yeah go ahead and use it" knowing they were under age. If the pub explicitly people under 18 in then the underage person has committed an offence by entering. If the pub allows people under 18 to enter then the pub must do what it can to prevent them from drinking or using the fruit machines and cigarette machines. If the machine is out of site of the bar then it should be repositioned or the cigarette machine should be behind the bar.