Shopkeepers warned to expect influx of underage smokers

Following the introduction of the vending machine ban in England yesterday, Betty McBride of the British Heart Foundation, which campaigned for the ban, urged shopkeepers to be on the lookout for underage smokers.

Is it just me? or is it really illogical to believe that 11 per cent of underage smokers rely on vending machines for their tobacco? If it's not true that a significant proportion of child smokers use vending machines, why have they told researchers that they do? Is it because it seems to them that the alternative is to shop a dealer who is breaking the law by supplying them or shopping an illegal dealer who also supplies additional drugs? Getting a name for grassing up illegal dealers isn't a good survival tactic.

The fact that children can obtain tobacco from machines in test purchases is very far from being evidence that most determined young smokers will turn to these expensive machines as a regular source of supply. The children will get tobacco from rogue traders or illegal sellers on the street.

I feel that the notion that hordes of teenagers will queue up in shops with faked ID just because there's no longer a tobacco vending machine in the Bull & Bush is far-fetched and reflects a level of official denial about the scale of unofficial/illegal sales of tobacco in Scotland.

North of the border restrictions are tightening too. Retailers of tobacco in Scotland are required to register, but as little as three days ago less than half the retailers had done so. On the alcohol side, 'buy one get one free' and similar offers are now illegal in shops – but since supermarkets have already simply lowered the unit price of wines and crates of beer it remains to be seen how quickly further restrictions will follow.

Smoking rate fall 'shows no need for a ban' (Grocer). Or does it?

Is there a need for further drastic measures to reduce smoking among youth? The Grocer last Saturday said no. Quoting the journal Addiction, it claimed that since raising the age of purchase to 18, the youth smoking rate is already in decline, and no further action is needed.

Just a week later, the BBC pointed out that more shops were failing test purchases in Lincolnshire.

Coincidence? Did the Grocers article cause alarm among supporters of legislation and get them looking for a story of uncontrolled youth tobacco purchasing? You decide.

I am in no doubt that underage sales occur, but the idea that hiding tobacco in shops will make them any less likely is completely out of the box.