Recent data suggests that major airports and ports are being used as entry points for the UK’s illegal vaping epidemic, with London, Manchester and Dover recording the highest number of illegal devices seized in 2023.
Last year, over one and a half million illegal dangerous vapes were seized in the UK, with Dover and London Heathrow recording around 250,000 seizures each, and Manchester over 150,000.
Some airlines have already banned the transport of disposable electronic cigarettes on their flights in response to growing concern about the adverse effects of these products on public health and the environment.
One vape industry expert claimed “The unregulated illegal vape trade mirrors the issues once prevalent in the cigarette black market, including youth usage, potentially dangerous products, and unregulated retail sales.”
Vapes are usually considered dangerous goods but are erroneously not always declared as such. Nicotine itself falls under class 6.1 toxic and of course the lithium batteries that power most of these devices are class 9.
On the spot fines have now been introduced for traders illegally importing unregulated vapes.
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