An off-licence has been ordered to close after selling illegal tobacco and vapes as well as individual cigarettes.
Queens Park Convenience Store and Off-Licence, based on Mayor Street just outside the town centre had been supplying illegal tobacco, non-compliant vapes and individual cigarettes.
Bolton Council say that on one visit trading standards officers found illegal tobacco and vapes in a plastic bag hidden in a fridge.
Council cabinet member for regulatory services Cllr Sue Haworth said: “The ways these illegal goods were often cleverly hidden demonstrates the devious tactics shop owners will go to in trying to supply illegal tobacco and vapes to the Bolton public.
“Closure orders are a last resort for the council, but we will not tolerate blatant disregard for the law and put people’s health at risk.”
Trading standards officers say they had warned owner Azad Khani six times and seized counterfeit tobacco and vapes on four visits to the shop.
They found the illicit good stashed in a drawer behind the shop counter, while the officers also carried out undercover test purchases.
These tests found that single cigarettes were being sold, which is illegal, as well as the illegal tobacco.
On August 20 this year the council revoked Mr Khani’s licence to sell alcohol because of the sale of illegal goods.
But he carried on selling illegal tobacco and vapes, which were found in a plastic bag hidden in a fridge when trading standards officers visited on Wednesday September 11.
In cases like this, illegal or non-compliant tobacco and vapes refer to products that do not fulfil the right legal requirements.
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This could mean vapes that exceed the maximum tank capacity, do not fulfil the right labelling requirements or which contain illegal ingredients.
The closure order was granted at Wigan Magistrates Court on Thursday October 31 and means that the business will be closed for three months.
This is the fourth closure order of this kind that Bolton Council has carried out in the past six months.
They say that this is an enforcement method which has major impact on shop owners because they lose three months of trading.
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