Teen purchasers will go undercover

By Ryan Crighton

EVERY cigarette retailer in Aberdeenshire will be visited by a 16-year-old test purchaser under new council plans to curb under-age smoking, it has been revealed.

New measures to be approved by councillors this week also include plans to inspect and monitor mobile vans which sell cigarettes near schools and community centres.

A special team of investigators will be set up by Aberdeenshire Council to carry out covert operations to uncover which shopkeepers are breaking the law.

It comes after consumer protection staff carried out test purchasing exercises at 27 tobacco retailers in the 12-month period to August 31. Nine illegal sales were made and these were reported to the procurator fiscal.

The council has been given an extra £127,000 over three years to tackle under-age smoking as part of the Scottish Government’s plans to eradicate the habit.

It has also been awarded £26,000 additional funding to enforce aspects of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act.

The money is being combined to set up a small team whose main functions will be to carry out Aberdeenshire-wide special investigations into counterfeit goods and take a lead on the enforcement of age-restricted items such as tobacco.

One of the team’s proposed projects will be to carry out test purchasing exercises in all areas of Aberdeenshire over the next three years, visiting all of the area’s 850 tobacco retailers.

Trading standards officials at Aberdeenshire Council already use test purchasers in the run-up to Guy Fawkes night.

A test-purchase campaign in 2005 led to the first criminal conviction last year against supermarket giant Morrisons after a checkout assistant was caught selling a £10 box of fireworks to a 16-year-old. The firm was fined £500 following a trial at Peterhead Sheriff Court. The same operation in 2005 also led to two other Peterhead shopkeepers being fined.

Throughout the summer, Grampian Police has also made extensive use of test purchasers, helping to catch shopkeepers who have been selling alcohol to under-18s.

Councillors on the infrastructure services committee will consider the latest tobacco operation when they meet in Aberdeen tomorrow.