Illegal Vapes

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/25/003487/O

Version Date: 12/08/2025

The Performance Analysis Department have provided the following information.

Note: An illegal or unregulated vape does not comply with UK regulations, often meaning it's not registered with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), contains nicotine levels exceeding the legal limit (20mg/ml), or has a tank capacity larger than 2ml for single-use vapes. These products can also be dangerous because they may contain harmful substances or even illegal drugs like THC or Spice. Following the ban on disposable vapes in the UK, this definition will now also include single-use vapes.

Specifically-for each of the past 5 years (2020-2024), and partial data for 2025 if available-I am seeking anonymised data from your police force on the following:

1. The total number of sellers found to be in possession of illegal, unregulated or "black market" vape products.

As there is no specific offence for the sale of illegal vape products, Performance Analysis have carried out keyword searches in the Niche Crime Universe for the below key phrases:
- Illegal vape
- Black market vape
- Unregulated vape
Black market vape and Unregulated vape both produced nil returns.
The returned occurrences have been reviewed to determine whether or not a seller/store was found, this was not always clear from the log.
There were 24 confirmed sellers found within this time period, however there are a number of additional occurrences where either illegal vapes were found on an individual but the OEL did not confirm whether or not these items were to be sold, or ones that mention police awareness of a shop selling illegal vapes however it is not investigated during the occurrence.

2. The number of sellers who faced any form of legal action, including but not limited to warnings, fines, charges, or prosecutions.

From the review of the data, the sale of illegal vapes seems to be dealt with by Trading Standards and HM Revenue and Customs. As such, the occurrences captured have not been crimed (or if they have, for an alternate offence), therefore Dorset Police are unable to provide any outcome data.
It may be better to submit this question to Trading Standards and/or HMRC.

3. The number of individuals formally prosecuted (i.e. individuals who were taken to court and faced criminal proceedings resulting in a conviction or ongoing trial).

Dorset Police do not hold information about prosecutions. This information is held by the Courts.