Test Purchase Operations Carried out Vaping

I would like to make a Freedom of Information request for the following:



1. The total number of test purchase operations carried out by your authority to assess compliance with age-restricted sales of vaping products in retail premises.



2. Of these test purchases, the number that resulted in a failure, where a vaping product was sold without appropriate age verification.



3. The number of financial penalties, fixed penalty notices, or fines issued to retailers for the illegal sale of vaping products to underage customers.



Please provide data for the last three financial years (22/23, 23/24, 24/25).

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you. 

 1-2. Please see table below

3. Please see table below.  Please note, Lincolnshire Trading Standards do not issue on the spot penalty notices/fines for underage vape sales.  Warning notices are issued in the first instance with consideration for formal cautions or prosecution.  Therefore the fines referred to below are those issued through criminal cases taken through the courts by Lincolnshire Trading Standards, usually as a result of repeated underage sales from the same premise.  As such, cases can take time to reach an outcome at court, not all cases will have concluded and so the below does not always relate to the year the underage sale was made.