A convenience shop in Wembley has been fined more than £1,500 after inspectors found cigarettes and illegal oral tobacco products for sale without proper health warnings.
Jaydeep Bharat Thakkar, 34, who runs Sangit Paan House on Wembley High Road, was ordered to pay a joint total of £1,602.40 in fines and costs by judges at Willesden magistrates court after he and his business were found guilty of selling cigarettes without legally required health warnings.
The court heard how in May of this year, Brent Council’s Trading Standards officers visited the shop to find 32 packets of ‘Marlboro Red,’ 25 packets of ‘Marlboro Gold,’ 16 packets of ‘Jin Ling,’ 11 packets of ‘Camel,’ and three packets of ‘Victory’ cigarettes on sale without any warnings of the health risks to smokers.
Officers also found for sale hundreds of oral tobacco products, including 277 ‘Kuber’ and 76 ‘Mirage’ tobacco pouches, which are banned from sale in the United Kingdom, prompting them to prosecute Mr Thakkar and his business.
Cllr James Denselow, Brent council’s cabinet member for trading standards said: “Businesses that sell tobacco products have a responsibility to ensure that cigarette packets carry the proper health warnings, as required by law, to ensure that customers are aware of the dangers of smoking.
“Selling illegal cigarettes, as this business did, simply amounts to putting profit before the health and safety of consumers in the borough, which is something that will never be tolerated in Brent and we will smoke out anyone found to be doing this”.
“I am therefore delighted with the outcome of this case and I would like to thank Brent Council’s Trading Standards Team for their work in helping to make Brent a safer and healthier borough.”
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