A shop has been fined for selling a vape to an underage teenager in east London.
Al-Haramain Superstore in Tower Hamlets was caught selling a lemon and lime-flavoured nicotine vape to a 17-year-old.
The operation was carried out by the Metropolitan Police with Volunteer Police Cadets to check the shop’s compliance with regulations on nicotine products.
Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Integrated Enforcement, said: “We are committed to keeping our young people safe, and regularly carry out test purchases to ensure that businesses don’t put their profits before the health of our communities.”
The purchase was completed in August last year when the 17-year-old was sold the vape without being asked his age or required to provide proof of identification.
It is not the first time shops in Tower Hamlets have broken laws on age-restricted products. Seven other shops were fined over the course of 2023 and 2024 for selling vapes to 15-year-olds.
According to data from health charity ASH, the use of e-cigarettes among 11 to 17-year-olds in Great Britain is estimated at 19 per cent, the equivalent to around 1.1 million young people. Around one in eight young people who have tried vaping say they now do so daily.
Tower Hamlets Councillor Sabina Akhtar is the Cabinet Member for Healthy, Caring and Inclusive Communities.
She said: “Although vaping is safer than the harmful effects of cigarette smoke, it is not completely harmless and the long-term effects are not yet clear. Children and young people are even more susceptible to the negative effects because of their developing lungs and brains.”
The report from ASH in June 2026, also showed 77 per cent of young people who vape said it is easy to access vapes or cigarettes, with 47 per cent buying their vapes directly from shops.
A previous report by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute revealed that illegal sales were made in 33 per cent of 422 test purchases of disposable vapes made by young people.
Al-Haramain Superstore worker, Mr Md Al Amin, pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court in March this year and was fined £146. He was also ordered to pay £100 in costs and a £58 victim surcharge.
The shop’s director, Mrs Ashrafi Ashrafi, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company in September and was fined £800. The company was also ordered to pay £1,995 in prosecution costs and a £320 victim surcharge.
Featured image stock photography by Ruslan Alekso via Pexels
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