Caerphilly Trading Standards seized illegal tobacco and cigarettes with a street value of £28,000 last year, as a campaign aims to raise awareness of the issue on No Smoking Day.
In 2014, 1,700 illegal cigarettes and 2,845 pouches of illegal tobacco were seized and the council are warning that sellers often target children and people on lower incomes due to the affordability of the cheap tobacco.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards teamed up with Health Challenge Caerphilly to make people aware of the problems linked to illegal tobacco.
The campaign was launched today, March 11, to coincide with No Smoking Day.
Cllr David Poole, Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services said: “While some people may not see the sale of cheap, illegal tobacco as a significant problem in our communities, it can have a huge negative impact on residents of all ages.
“Our trading standards team know that illegal tobacco and cigarettes are available in the community, but currently there is very little information being passed to us to about its sale, therefore I would urge anyone with any information to come forward and report it to us.”
Meanwhile, new research by Stop Smoking Wales has shown 21% of the Welsh population smoke.
In response to a questionnaire of smokers they have introduced an online service that aims to help smokers quit in 28 days.
They have also opened a pop-up shop in Cwmbran where smokers can come along at a time that suits them, and taken the service on the road via two mobile support units.
Carol Owen, service lead at Stop Smoking Wales, said: “We asked smokers in Wales what services they felt they needed to help them quit. We listened and now we are acting on that by trialing new delivery methods.
“Our research showed that almost half of smokers in Wales make at least five quit attempts a year but many stick to the same methods for each attempt. We want to encourage smokers to try something different by getting support to help them quit.
“Evidence shows smokers are four times more likely to quit with support from a service like Stop Smoking Wales so we have made it our priority to introduce new delivery methods to help improve access to the service.”
With calls for standardised plain packaging to be introduced won’t this only make it easier for the counterfeiters to produce fake cigarettes and tobacco.
Yes, I had not thought about that but you are right.
With calls for standardised plain packaging to be introduced won’t this only make it easier for the counterfeiters to produce fake cigarettes and tobacco.
Yes, I had not thought about that but you are right.