Cigarette sales to youngsters 'unacceptably high'

CIGARETTES remain easily available to people under 18 according to Devon Trading Standards. They say undercover operations found retailers selling cigarettes to underage youngsters. 
A spokesperson said: “Despite the increase from 16 to 18-years-old for the minimum age for buying cigarettes in 2007, the operations found that youngsters were not asked their age and on occasions were even helped to buy cigarettes from vending machines, even though they were underage. “Operation Reality Check involved a series of test purchases across the South-West, using two female volunteers of a similar age. “One volunteer did not ‘dress-up’, or wear make up or lie about their age. The other dressed in more fashionable clothes and was able to wear make up, but was still not allowed to use any false identification. 
“However, in both cases cigarette sales to the youngsters were unacceptably high -- 52 outlets out of 298 (17%) sold cigarettes to the first volunteer and 67 outlets from 298 (22%) to the second volunteer. 
“Although there was a slight rise in sales with the more realistic scenario, the overall conclusion was that it appeared to make little difference as to whether a shop sold or not. “Far more important was the general attitude of the business towards underage sales in general. 
“Neither of our volunteers were asked their age and on a few occasions where identification was requested a sale still took place even though none was shown.”