Nearly half of London-area independent shops visited were still selling disposable vapes this week, despite the sale of the devices being outlawed, an Better Retailing investigation has found. 

During visits to 50 shops in the London area, Better Retailing found 24 were still selling disposables, many of which showed little effort to comply with the new law.

Better Retailing has separated the non-compliant stores into those attempting to be compliant and those making no effort to follow the ban. 

Of the 24 shops selling disposables, 19 were displaying them openly on their regular gantries and shelves, and gave no indication of having tried to run down disposable stock. 

One explicitly revealed they were willingly violating the law, while two others displayed no disposables, but supplied them from a hidden stash to Better Retailing’s team when asked, with one shop offering three for £13. 

One north-west London shop had three models and more than 30 flavours of disposable pens on display in the front window. 

ACS: More funding needed to enforce disposable vape ban

Another in north-east London displayed a large range of disposables that were advertised with promotions. The owner told Better Retailing they knew the ban was in place and had attempted to get rid of as much stock as possible beforehand. 

Better Retailing found six shops knowledgeable of the ban now being in force that had attempted to comply, but failed. This includes three that had attempted to sell through disposable stock, but continued displaying leftover devices, and three still displaying non-compliant ‘hybrid’ prefilled devices. 

Of the 10 symbol stores visited, only one, a west London Londis, was non-compliant, with another stocking no vapes at all. 

This week, the ACS said trading standards officers need more resources to crack down on rogue traders selling illicit vapes. Trading standards teams are “drastically under-resourced”, according to the ACS, with officers typically only able to visit premises following intelligence or reports from consumers and other businesses. 

Research commissioned by the ACS last year found that trading standards teams need £140m over the next five years to tackle illicit vapes alone, with £30m required this year – three times the amount currently provided to enforcement officers. 

Fines of £200 are in place for first-offence cases of retailers found continuing to sell disposables. Trading standards are also able to issue Stop Notices and Compliance Notices, as well as seize any non-compliant products found. 

For further offences, retailers may be charged with an unlimited fine, a prison sentence of up to two years, or both. 

How to get your store ready for the disposable vape ban