Tobacco sellers pay the penalty

Four East Ayrshire retailers have been fined for selling cigarettes to 16-year-olds.

The £200 penalties were handed out during the latest initiative by East Ayrshire’s Trading Standards Service, in which local tobacco retailers were visited to ensure compliance with age-related legislation.

During February and March, Trading Standards Officers, accompanied by 16-year-old volunteers, made visits to 25 premises in attempts to purchase cigarettes. The result of this was that four retailers failed to recognise that the volunteer was well below the legal age to buy cigarettes and made a sale. The four