Fine after Watford's Waved Downtown sold illegal vapes

Jathuram Parimalanathan sold the item to a Trading Standards volunteer from his business Waved Downtown, at 208 St Albans Road, on February 13.

The 27-year-old admitted selling a vape containing nicotine to a 16-year-old and possession of 35 assorted nicotine containing vapes with no batch code numbers for sale at a hearing at St Albans Magistrates' Court yesterday (August 30).

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He was ordered to pay £1,328.

After the initial offence, Trading Standards sent a 15-year-old to try to buy a similar product on March 2 but that time Mr Parimalanathan refused to sell.

However, a search by the consumer protection service’s officers revealed vapes that were not compliant with regulations in the shop’s basement storeroom.

Mr Parimalanathan, of Stafford Road in Wallington, said that he had been distracted by a potential shoplifter during the test purchase. He also told officers he had bought the seized vapes from a man in a white van.

Waved Downtown, in St Albans Road (Image: Google Street View)Hertfordshire County Council explained that Mr Parimalanathan admitted knowing they were illegal to sell but claimed he saw other shops selling them and only sold to a couple of customers.

He said they were also for personal use, by him and his brothers.

The sole trader also accepted that his refusals book was not up to date and he had on occasion forgotten to use it.

In mitigation he said he now adopts a 'challenge 25' policy and always records the occasions when he refuses a sale.

The council described Mr Parimalanathan as “cooperative with officers throughout” and said he regretted his mistakes, adding that “he no longer buys vapes from the man in a white van”.

St Albans Magistrates Court (Image: Newsquest)

The fine was reduced because magistrates noted he had refused the other underage sale but they also said that “in the worst case" the unmarked vapes "could potentially be lethal”.

Without paperwork to determine the source of the vapes, their integrity is in question, and if there were health problems, batch codes could not be used to judge the response.

The court heard that the store had been visited twice within the previous six months to explain the law and retailers’ responsibilities.