Two convenience store operators in South Gloucestershire have been ordered to pay a combined total of almost £11,000 in fines and costs for selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes to customers, in the first prosecution for these types of devices brought by a local authority in Great Britain.

Appearing at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday, January 11, Ariyan (SW) Limited and its sole director, Gaurav Kotia, 34, of Downend pleaded guilty to both selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes and being in possession for supply of a further 355 devices.

Krishna Trading (Bristol) Limited and its sole director, Ronakkumar Rajendrakumar Parikh, 31, of Downend also pleaded guilty to selling disposable e-cigarettes and being in possession for supply of a further 291 devices. 

Kotia and his company were fined a total of £2,750, ordered to pay council costs £2,500 and required to pay £68 in victim surcharges, whilst Parikh and his company were fined a total of £2,450, ordered to pay council costs £2,950 and required to pay £68 in victim surcharges.

The combined total of fines, costs and surcharges comes to £10,786.

The court heard that Kotia operates a newsagent trading as MJ News in Hanham, whilst Parikh operates Kingswood Food & Wine, a convenience store in Kingswood.

South Gloucestershire Council's Trading Standards team received complaints that both businesses were selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes.

When Trading Standards officers visited the premises in June 2022 they found labelled devices containing up to seven times the 2ml legal limit of nicotine e-liquid, so the products were seized and these prosecutions progressed.    

Councillor Rachel Hunt, cabinet member responsible for Trading Standards at South Gloucestershire Council, said: "Although vaping is considered far safer than smoking traditional tobacco products, inhaling nicotine through a device is not risk free. That is why there is legislation in place to regulate products placed on the market."

Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) chief executive, John Herriman, said: "While we recognise that vaping may be a useful quitting aid for smokers, we are worried that there appear to be increasing breaches of the law, with many non-compliant products being sold.

"There are also growing concerns from Trading Standards colleagues up and down the country that vaping products are being sold or supplied to children and young people, and CTSI will be ramping up our advocacy activities in this area in the future."