TRADING standards officers are warning that retailers must enforce the ban on anyone under 18 buying e-cigarettes after a recent successful prosecution.

Steven Purves, of Vaporised in Huntriss Row, Scarborough, was fined £440 at the town’s magistrates court for selling an e-cigarette to a 14-year-old.

The county’s trading standards department has reported an increase in complaints relating to the sale of e-cigarettes and nicotine inhaling products to under-18s.

E-cigarettes are now the most popular way for smokers to quit, but it is illegal for under-18s to buy and use them. Informal surveys through attempted test purchases of e-cigarettes and nicotine inhaling products by under-18s resulted in sales occurring in 25 per cent of attempts.