Kidlington barber shop fined £5,800 for illegal nicotine sales

Arafh Aliammad, of Eldon Court in Glasgow, pleaded guilty to all offences on behalf of himself and the company he is director of, Empire Barber 2 Ltd in Oxford Road, Kidlington.

The 42-year-old was ordered to pay £2,936.95 in fines and costs, bringing the total to £5,873.90, at a hearing at Reading Magistrates Court on Friday, March 13.

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The court heard that trading standards officers inspected the premises on January 21 last year, when they seized 59 unit packs of nicotine pouches and a numbered display of 30 dummy boxes of illegal electronic cigarettes, or vapes.

The display created the impression that the products could be legally sold when they could not.

Display of ‘dummy’ vape cases suggested they were for legal sale (Image: Oxfordshire County Council)

 Officers also identified an open display of tobacco products, which is prohibited by law, and found that no A3 tobacco warning notice was displayed, despite this being a legal requirement.

The business had previously received written advice from trading standards on similar issues in 2024.

In mitigation, Zee Raja, representing Aliammad, told the court that his client had learned from this experience and was committed to ensuring he did not appear before the court again.

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Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for community safety, said: “Illegal tobacco and nicotine products have no place on our high streets.

“Our trading standards officers work tirelessly to protect residents from products that are unsafe, unregulated and highly addictive, and this case shows that we will take robust action where the law is ignored.”

The illegal sales were caught by Trading Standards (Image: Oxfordshire County Council)

Aliammad is also due to appear before Reading Magistrates’ Court on September 25 this year, in relation to allegations of illegal tobacco and nicotine product offences committed at a different premises in Oxford, which he denies.

Davina Walkin, Trading Standards operations manager at Oxfordshire County Council, added: “Our trading standards officers will continue to take firm and proportionate action to disrupt the illegal sale of tobacco and nicotine products.

“Where businesses ignore the law or fail to act on previous advice, we will not hesitate to step in to protect the public.”

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Anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco and nicotine products should contact 0300 999 6 999 to report it anonymously or visit www.stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk.

It comes after an illegal tobacco seller was fined £400,000 at Oxford Crown Court in September last year.

Michael Addison, 65, of Cheltenham, was caught selling fake cigarettes and smuggled hand-rolling tobacco on two separate occasions at Kidlington market in an operation from Trading Standards and the police.