Undercover crackdown in Staffordshire to catch places selling botox to children
Trading Standards are on an operation to stop age-restricted items being sold to under-18s
A number of undercover children are being dispatched to shops and businesses across Staffordshire to catch those illegally selling things like botox and specialist beauty treatments to under-18s.
Trading Standards are warning that they face further test purchases and strict enforcement action, after an initial operation found young volunteers were able to book appointments at 16 of the 18 premises visited or contacted, a concerning 88% non-compliance rate.
The volunteers used were both male and female, between 14 and 17 years old and were acting under the instruction of officers from Trading Standards.
Frances Darling, Trading Standards Management Board Champion for age restricted sales said: "Fundamentally, Trading Standards wants to work with businesses to ensure they comply with the law and act responsibly; however where necessary, we will not hesitate to take robust enforcement action, especially where previous advice is ignored."
Wider figures relating to other age-restriction items found that from April 2023 to March 2024 of the 742 premises visited by Trading Standards, 24% of businesses sold an age-restricted product, including alcohol, tobacco, vapes and fireworks to underage shoppers.
In Staffordshire, 76 test purchases for vapes were attempted, with seven shops found to be selling products to underage volunteers.
The majority of offending businesses have been issued with a written warning for first-time offences, while others are facing criminal prosecution and/or a premises licence review, where their alcohol licence could be suspended for up to three months or even revoked.
Frances added: “The law relating to sales of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine vaping products, fireworks and other age-restricted products and services exist to protect children and young people from harm and for this reason Trading Standards takes its role in preventing sales of age-restricted products very seriously.
“We regularly carry out test purchasing exercises to ensure businesses are complying with the law and will take enforcement action to prevent unacceptable and illegal sales across the retail sector.”
People can report businesses selling age restricted goods to under 18s on the Staffordshire Trading Standards confidential hotline on 01785330356.
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