Traders Should Request ID to Avoid Under-Aged Sales
Hatfords, a newsagent and tobacconist in Broadway, Bexleyheath, sold cigarettes to a 15-year-old boy on 26 October last year, Bexley Magistrates' Court has heard.
It was Bexley Council Trading Standards’ first case since the age limit for selling cigarettes was raised from 16 to 18 on 1 October last year.
Mr Nilesh Patel, 32, of Broadway, Bexleyheath, who made the sale and is the director of Diya Enterprises Ltd, which sold the cigarettes, pleaded guilty. Mr Patel alleged that the boy had a moustache and a beard, but photographs taken of the boy on the day of the sale showed this to be untrue, and the Court levied fines and costs of £1,200 on Mr Patel and his company. The case was heard on 9 June.
The Trading Standards team says that traders in age-restricted goods who want to stay on the right side of the law must ask for and carefully check the ID of anyone who looks under 21.
