Council urged to conduct 'after hours' test purchase exercises

Reports by Andy Balfour

Local Democracy Reporrer

A COUNCILLOR on Derry City and Strabane District Council has said that council officers must carry out test purchases of vapes and other tobacco products in the evenings, to avoid “open season” for those selling to minors.

Members of January’s Health and Community Committee were presented with the results of recent test purchasing exercises, which noted that since April 1 last year officers have visited 40 premises across the district.

Nineteen of those visits took place on June 30, during which one e-cigarette was sold to a 15-year-old.

Twenty-one test purchases took place on October 27, when nine under-age sales – one packet of cigarettes and eight e-cigarettes – took place.

The report said enforcement action is “under way in all of these cases”, with seven Fixed Penalty Notices already administered.

The SDLP's Brian Tierney asked what time of day the purchases took place and asked if they could be done “after hours”, as he was concerned about certain vape shops that stay open late and are “very attractive to young people”.

He added: “I believe that young people could be buying e-cigarettes and if these test purchases are only going to happen between the hours of 9 and 5, for example, then after 5, when they’re open later, particularly in the city centre and some of the town centres across the district, then that’s open season for them and we’re not doing all we can to protect young people.”

An officer said the recommended hours for test purchases was 9am to 3.30pm, due to the logistics of working with a school-aged child, but conceded that there may be establishments that are “on point to sell after those hours or after school”.

Councillor Tierney responded: “Do we have it within our gift to step outside that timeframe, and if we don’t what do we need to do to get that extended?”

“Because I genuinely believe there will be premises that will be selling e-cigarettes to children after those hours, particularly now after hearing this.”

The officer confirmed that, while it would require consent from the child carrying out the purchase and their parents, there “isn’t anything in law” prohibiting council from making test purchasing after 3.30pm.

They concluded: “It is something we will consider if we can get consent going forward, that’s something we can facilitate.

“But I think the number of notices issued so far this year is actually going to reflect well, and hopefully with some PR it will maybe act as a deterrent towards other premises.”