POLICE have seized a large quantity of illegal vapes as part of a crackdown in Hereford.

In a joint operation between the West Mercia Police and Hereford Council’s trading standards team, two officers visited a number of different shops in the city on January 26, carrying out test purchases to ensure that retailers are complying with the laws around age-restricted products, a West Mercia police spokesperson revealed.

These test purchases are usually undertaken at premises where it is suspected that the retailer has either sold age-restricted products to a child or previously sold restricted products when tested by trading standards officers.

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Tests can also be carried out on shops where children have bought age-restricted products through online sources or if it is in an area where retailers have been known to flout the age restriction laws in the past.

According to the spokesperson, many of the shops failed the test purchase, and will soon be dealt with by Trading Standards.

Several premises were also caught selling illegal vapes, which were promptly seized by the pair of officers.