Stock photo
A Tower Hamlets shop has been fined after selling a nicotine vape to a child during a test purchasing operation carried out by Trading Standards Officers, from Tower Hamlets’ Regulatory Services.
On 4 August 2025, Tower Hamlets Trading Standards officers, working alongside the Metropolitan Police and Volunteer Police Cadets, conducted an operation to check compliance with laws relating to the sale of age-restricted products.
During the operation, a 17-year-old volunteer was able to purchase a nicotine-containing vape from Al-Haramain Superstore, Whitehorse Lane, E1. The product sold was a SKE Original Lemon & Lime flavoured vape containing nicotine.
The sale was made by Mr Md Al Amin, who did not challenge the young person for proof of age before completing the transaction. It is illegal to sell nicotine vaping products to anyone under the age of 18.
Both the seller and the business, Al-Haramain Ltd, were prosecuted for the offence by the Council’s Legal Services Team. The unlawful sale occurred despite previous advice and guidance having been provided to the business by Tower Hamlets Trading Standards on preventing underage sales of age-restricted products.
At a hearing at Thames Magistrates' Court on 8 September 2026, Mrs Ashrafi Ashrafi, director of Al-Haramain Ltd, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to an offence under the Children and Families Act 2014 of selling a nicotine inhaling device to a person under the age of 18.
During the hearing, Mrs Ashrafi accepted responsibility for the company having committed the offence and acknowledged that she should have provided staff with more guidance to prevent the sale taking place.
The court fined Al-Haramain Ltd £800 and ordered the company to pay £1,995 in prosecution costs and a £320 victim surcharge.
Mr Md Al Amin had previously pleaded guilty to the offence at Thames Magistrates' Court on 24 March 2026. He was fined £146, ordered to pay £100 in costs and a £58 victim surcharge.
Cllr Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Integrated Enforcement, said: “We are committed to keeping our young people safe, and regularly carry out test purchases to ensure that businesses don’t put their profits before the health of our communities.”
Cllr Sabina Akhtar, Cabinet Member for healthy, caring and inclusive communities, said: “Although vaping is safer than the harmful effects of cigarette smoke, it is not completely harmless and the long-term effects are not yet clear. Children and young people are even more susceptible to the negative effects because of their developing lungs and brains.
“Unregulated and illegal vapes pose severe hidden health risks because they bypass safety standards, often containing excessive nicotine, toxic heavy metals and unapproved chemical ingredients.”
Posted on Monday 5th October 2026