A South Gloucestershire convenience store owner has been sent to prison for two months and ordered to pay a combined total of \u00a34,555.71 in fines and costs for selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes to customers.<\/p>\n
Jyar Limited and its sole director, Tahsin Jasem, 40, of Warmley appeared at Bristol Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday 9 December for sentencing, having previously pleaded guilty (on 13 May 2024) to being in possession of 518 illegal e-cigarette devices for supply to consumers.<\/p>\n
Jasem was sentenced to two months imprisonment, ordered to pay costs totaling \u00a33109.71 and required to pay a \u00a3154 victim surcharge. His company, Jyar Limited received a \u00a3923 fine and was required to pay a \u00a3369 victim surcharge.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Jasem operates a convenience store trading as International Store in Kingswood. South Gloucestershire Council\u2019s Trading Standards team received a complaint in April 2023 that the store was selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes. When Trading Standards officers visited the premises in May 2023, they found devices labelled as containing up to eight times the 2 ml legal limit of nicotine e-liquid and a declared strength two and a half times the 20 mg\/ml (2%) legal limit. A large quantity of illegal e-cigarettes were found concealed below the floorboards. The products were seized and a prosecution case progressed.<\/p>\n
Councillor Sean Rhodes, cabinet member responsible for the Trading Standards service at South Gloucestershire Council, said: \u201cThe council\u2019s Trading Standards officers have been undertaking checks to ensure only legally compliant e-cigarettes that have undergone the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) submission and notification process are supplied to customers. During the last three years we have seized over 9,500 illegal disposable e-cigarette devices with a retail value of over \u00a376,000.
\n\u201cAlthough vaping is considered far safer than smoking traditional tobacco products, inhaling nicotine through a device is not risk free. Legislation is in place to regulate products that are placed on the market. Most retailers only sell e-cigarette products that comply with law, however we will not hesitate to prosecute retailers who choose to put profit before compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone who suspects they may have been sold, or is aware of a business supplying non-compliant disposable e-cigarettes are urged to report it to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service www.citizensadvice.org.uk\/consumer\/<\/a> or on 0808 223 1133, or by reporting it anonymously to Trading Standards South West at www.tssw.org.uk\/work-areas\/report-it\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A South Gloucestershire convenience store owner has been sent to prison for two months and ordered to pay a combined total of \u00a34,555.71 in fines and costs for selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes to customers. Jyar Limited and its sole director, Tahsin Jasem, 40, of Warmley appeared at Bristol Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday 9 December for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[541],"tags":[961,1894],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25518,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25516\/revisions\/25518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}