Harrow Trading Standards is cracking down on the sale of single-use vapes, enforcing the new ban that came into effect in June 2025. The move aims to protect young people and reduce littering caused by disposable vapes.

The enforcement update was provided during the Trading Standards Joint Advisory Board meeting on Wednesday, 5 November 2025, where the board reviewed the service's mid-year performance. The ban is part of The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024.

According to the Mid-Year Review 2025-26, Trading Standards officers have been actively monitoring businesses to ensure compliance with the new regulations. Anu Prashar, Senior Regulatory Service Manager for Trading Standards and Licensing, noted that she has observed a decrease in disposable vapes littering the streets since the ban was implemented.

Infographic showing Trading Standards enforcement statistics, including infringement reports, costs awarded, letters of warning issued, cases recommended for legal proceedings, and cases concluded in court.
Infographic showing Trading Standards enforcement statistics, including infringement reports, costs awarded, letters of warning issued, cases recommended for legal proceedings, and cases concluded in court.

Beyond the vape ban, the Trading Standards Mid-Year Review highlighted a range of activities undertaken by the service between April and September 2025:

  • Visits to 22 businesses to check for compliance relating to the sales of illicit tobacco, 12 of which were in Harrow.
  • Visits to 27 high-risk and most complained about businesses, 12 of which were in Harrow.
  • Enforcement visits to 120 businesses to ensure compliance with the law and provide advice.
  • Testing of 38 businesses for underage sales of products such as vapes, alcohol and cigarettes, with a failure rate of 15%. The Mid-Year Review 2025-26 indicates this included 5 instances of vape sales and 1 instance of butane gas sales. The report also mentions encouraging people to report underage sales and illicit tobacco products.

In addition to enforcing the vape ban, Harrow Trading Standards continues to tackle the sale of illicit tobacco through Operation CeCe. Between March 2021 and September 2025, officers carried out 184 enforcement visits, seizing more than 480,580 sticks of illegal cigarettes, 10kg of hand rolling tobacco, 23kg of smokeless tobacco and 115kg of shisha products. These efforts have resulted in 63 letters of warning and 10 simple cautions issued to business owners, companies, and/or its directors. 24 cases have been concluded in court following legal proceedings, resulting in fines collectively exceeding £38,000 and costs of £25,000.

Infographic showing 480,580 sticks of cigarettes seized, which is over 24,000 packs of cigarettes.
Infographic showing 480,580 sticks of cigarettes seized, which is over 24,000 packs of cigarettes.

The Trading Standards Joint Advisory Board will meet again on Thursday, 5 March 2026, hosted online by the London Borough of Brent.