Newsagent sold cigarettes to young girl

Sheikh Imran of Imran's News in Battersea Park Road sold cigarettes to a 15-year-old girl during a special operation targeting shopkeepers suspected of breaking smoking laws.

It has been illegal since October 2007 to sell cigarettes to young people under the age of 18. In court Mr Imran pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined £100 and ordered to pay another £100 in costs and victim's surcharge.

If Mr Imran commits further similar offences he could be banned from stocking or selling tobacco products in his shop for up to one year.

The council's trading standards spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said: "The law on the sale of tobacco products is very clear. It is illegal to sell them to anyone under the age of 18.

"It is vital that harmful products like cigarettes and alcohol do not get into the hands of children. This is also true of other dangerous products like knives, fireworks, solvents and paint sprays - which is why trading standards officers conduct regular operations using specially trained young people to catch those unscrupulous and careless shopkeepers who sell these items to under-age customers.

"Any trader we catch selling these kinds of products to children should be under no illusion about the legal sanctions they will face."

Houda Al-Sharifi, director of public health for Wandsworth, added: "The law is in place because it is important that society does all it can to limit the availability of tobacco to young people.

"Smoking is extremely harmful to a person's health and the earlier people start smoking the greater the health risks they will face throughout their lives. We wholeheartedly support these efforts to prevent the sale of tobacco to children."

As well as tobacco it is illegal for a shop to sell alcohol, fireworks, knives and solvents to anyone under the age of 18. Anyone buying an aerosol paint spray must be at least 16-years-old.

Anyone with information or concerns about items being unlawfully sold to children should call trading standards on (020) 8871 7720 or email tradingstandards@wandsworth.gov.uk