Shops banned for selling duty-free smokes
TWO local shops have been banned from selling cigarettes and tobacco for six months, following action by Lancashire County Council trading standards officers.
Pound Fever Ltd., which has discount shops in Lancaster and Morecambe pleaded guilty to two offences under the Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979 at Lancaster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Zaphar Naviya, secretary of the company, also pleaded guilty
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to offences brought against him under the same legislation.
The court heard that, on July 31, 2008, a trading standards officer visited Pound Fever in Euston Road in Morecambe where he bought a sleeve containing ten packs of Capital brand cigarettes for £25 – equivalent to just £2.50 per pack.
Later that day the officer went to the company’s other shop, at Marketgate in Lancaster, where a single pack cost him only £3.20.
The high street price of a pack of 20 cigarettes is usually nearer £5.20.
Examination of the packs showed that none carried UK customs declarations making it illegal to sell them in this country.
When interviewed, Zaphar Naviya, 30, of Swallowfields, Blackburn told officers that the cigarettes were an unwanted present that he had decided to sell to regular customers.
But the court heard that, just five months earlier, the company had been cautioned for a similar offence, involving Capital cigarettes, at its Morecambe store.
For the offences magistrates imposed a fine of £500 against Pound Fever Ltd and £240 against Zaphar Naviya, together with costs of £200 and £87.75 respectively. Both defendants were also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
In addition, six month bans against tobacco sales were imposed at both premises – the maximum period available to the court.
After Friday’s case Lancashire’s chief trading standards officer, Jim Potts, said: “This result marks another victory in our war on illicit tobacco sales. Cut-price imports undermine efforts to reduce tobacco consumption, harm local retailers and cost the UK economy over £3 billion a year in lost taxes.”
Tags: pundland, quit smoking, tobacco duty
