Illegal Cigarettes, Tobacco or Vaping Products Seized

1. For the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025, how many shops or other premises in your local authority area have had illegal cigarettes, tobacco or vaping products seized by your local authority (for example, by Trading Standards or other relevant teams)?



For each year, please provide figures broken down by location as follows (whichever is available within the cost limit):

1a. By Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA); or, if LSOA figures are not held or cannot be provided within the cost limit,

1b. By electoral ward; or, if that is not possible,

1c. By postcode area or postcode sector.

If you are unable to provide any breakdown by LSOA, electoral ward or postcode area/sector, please provide a single total figure for the whole local authority area for each year.



2. For the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025, how many business premises in your area have been required to close as a result of enforcement action in relation to illegal trading in cigarettes, tobacco or vaping products?



For each year, please provide:

2a. The number of premises required to close temporarily (for example, closure notices or orders, temporary licence suspensions, or other short term legal orders or notices requiring temporary closure).

2b. The number of premises required to close permanently (for example, following licence revocation, long term premises closure orders, or other legal action which resulted in the business ceasing to trade at those premises).



3. For the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025, as a result of enforcement action by your local authority in relation to the selling of illegal cigarettes, tobacco or vaping products, please provide the following information, where you hold payment status data:



For each year:

3a. The total number and total value in pounds sterling (£) of civil financial penalties and other non court financial sanctions issued directly by your authority (for example, civil penalties, fixed penalty notices and similar council issued sanctions).

3b. The total number and total value in pounds sterling (£) of fines imposed by the courts following criminal prosecutions brought by, or following investigations led by, your authority in relation to illegal cigarettes, tobacco or vaping products.



3c. For each year, please also state how many of the civil financial penalties/sanctions and court imposed fines recorded for that year are currently:

a. Paid in full.

b. Paid in part.

c. Unpaid (no payment received).

d. Unpaid and registered with, or referred to, a court or enforcement agents for enforcement or recovery.



4. For the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025, how many cases relating to illegal trading in cigarettes, tobacco or vaping products have been successfully prosecuted, resulting in a conviction or guilty plea in the courts, following investigations by your authority (for example, Trading Standards)?



If possible, please also provide, for each year:

4a. The number of prosecutions launched; and

4b. The number of those prosecutions that resulted in a conviction or guilty plea.



5. If data is not available by calendar year, please provide it for the three most recent yearly recording periods, clearly stating the periods used.

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. Data is provided at district council area.  199 seizures were made from 117 premises.  Please see below:

* 1 seizure was made from a vehicle in Nottinghamshire, but associated with a shop in West Lindsey

2a.

2b. Closure orders are issued for 3 months.  They can be extended, or a premise can receive multiple orders but they are not permanent.  Trading Standards cannot close businesses permanently.  Where businesses continue to trade after a closure order has ended and continue to trade in the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes we will look at closure order extensions, further closure orders or criminal prosecution.  We will also work with the landlord to raise awareness of illicit goods sold from their premise and the implications for them in terms of proceeds of crime.  The table below is a count of premises in each area where the landlord has evicted the tenant as a result of continued offending, recorded since 2024. 

​Please quote the reference number 15343826 in any future communications​.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to:

3a. Penalty notices have only been in place since June 2025, for disposable vapes. 

b.

c. Court imposed fines are managed by the courts, HM Court and Tribunal Services hold this information, Lincolnshire County Council Trading Standards do not have access to this information.  The three penalty notices have been paid in full. 

4a-b.

*2 Home Office Cautions were also issued in 2023

5. Not applicable