Leeds shop has licence revoked as illicit cigarettes sold showing 'scale of problems in Harehills'
Warnings have been made over the health impact of cheap illicit tobacco products after goods were seized at a 24-7 off-licence.
A packet of cigarettes was sold for just £5 at Booze 4 U in Harehills when a test purchase was carried out by Trading Standards in October last year, a licensing hearing was told.
The shop at 220 Roundhay Road was then visited in a joint operation involving police, HMRC and council licensing officers.
Officers said vapes containing more than the legal amount of liquid were found at the shop, along with packets of illicit cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco.
Leeds City Council’s licensing sub-committee revoked the shop’s premises licence after the allegations were heard at a meeting on Tuesday.
PC Neil Haywood said: “This shows the scale of the problems we are seeing in Harehills.
“This isn’t a few duty-free packets brought back from a holiday. Vast profits are generated.
“There needs to be consequences and a deterrent for operating in this way.”
Booze 4 U was not represented at the hearing, which was told the premises licence was previously suspended due to non-payment of the annual fee.
Concerns were raised that people using illicit vapes may not know what the products contained.
Health improvement specialist Emilia Slezak said more than 20 per cent of people in Harehills smoked, compared to 14.6 per cent of the city’s population as a whole.
She said: “There are a lot of vulnerable young people in that area. Lots of children are heavily exposed to smoking.”