Teens can buy age-restricted vapes and book lip filler appointments with ease, a Which? undercover investigation finds
A Which? undercover investigation has exposed just how easy it is for underage consumers to access age-restricted products and services on the high street – prompting the need for urgent reform to the UK’s consumer enforcement system.
Which? sent teenagers – wearing hidden cameras – into shops on the high street to try to buy vapes and book lip filler appointments. It is illegal for companies to sell vapes or book botox and lip filler appointments for under 18s.
Despite being aged between 14 and 17, the undercover teenagers were easily able to buy vapes and book a lip filler appointment. Some shops did ask the teens whether they were 18, but did not ask for proof of ID after they verbally confirmed they were of age.
Trading Standards services, based within local authorities, are the public body responsible for investigating underage sales, rogue traders, dangerous and counterfeit goods on a national and local level.
But despite enforcing over 200 pieces of legislation, Trading Standards teams across the UK have been depleted in recent years – meaning that our high streets are not being effectively policed for breaches of consumer protection law.
Which? wants urgent and serious reform to the consumer enforcement system to better protect shoppers, including on the high street.
Teens buy vapes without ID
Under the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015, selling a nicotine inhaling product – including devices, cartridges and refill vaping liquids containing nicotine – to anyone aged under 18 is a criminal offence.
It’s Trading Standards’ responsibility to check these rules are being followed, for example by carrying out visits and spot checks to premises.
But, as Which? research previously found, many complaints to Trading Standards go uninvestigated and proactive checks on local businesses to ensure compliance are no longer happening in many authorities.
With no meaningful enforcement in place, Which? wanted to see how easy it was for underage shoppers to buy vapes on the high street.
Our teenagers – aged between 14 and 17 – were equipped with a hidden camera, visiting shops that sold vapes.
It didn’t take long for our first successful sale, and by the end of the day, out of the eight shops we visited, five of them happily sold nicotine vapes to our underage secret shoppers.
In some cases the shops didn’t ask for ID at all. Other times, the teenager was asked for ID and when they said they didn’t have it with them, they were sold the vape regardless.
During one of these shops, when asked for their age, the teenager said they were 18. They were then asked for ID, but said they didn’t have it. Despite not having ID, the shop then tried to upsell the teenager a deal for two vapes for £20.
Which? has reported these companies to Trading Standards. The offence of selling nicotine vapes to children carries a fine of £2,500.
One of the vape shops said it takes the issue of underage sales extremely seriously and that its staff are instructed to request valid ID from customers who appear under 18. Following our findings, it said it's taking steps to reinforce its procedures, including retraining staff and ensuring stricter ID checks are applied.
Which? contacted the other shops for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
- Find out more: Trading Standards postcode lottery revealed
Lip filler appointments
It’s illegal to administer botox or lip filler to a person under 18 in England, even if they have the permission of someone of age.
It’s also an offence to make arrangements or book an appointment to provide these treatments to people under 18.
Despite this, one of the secret shoppers, aged 17, wasn’t checked for her ID when she went into a cosmetic store, asking for a lip filler appointment.
She booked in the appointment (which she did not attend), and was then given a consultation where the lip filler treatment was discussed in length – and was recorded on her hidden camera. She was not asked for proof of age checks at any point.
Which? has similarly reported the shop to Trading Standards.
High streets across the UK impacted
For this undercover research, Which? chose one of the high streets with the fewest number of Trading Standards staff per 100,000 people.
But the issue isn’t specific to this particular high street; across the country Trading Standards teams are stretched too thinly to do their jobs enforcing a broad range of consumer protections and other laws properly.
Shockingly, one fifth (36 out of 187) of Trading Standards teams reported no criminal prosecutions in the 2023-24 financial year. A further 25 reported only one criminal prosecution.
With Trading Standards’ resources under enormous strain, and dealing with ever more complex businesses and national issues, consumers – including underage shoppers – may find themselves more exposed to crime due to a lack of effective enforcement.
Consumer protection needs better enforcement
With the consumer enforcement system under strain, the need for effective consumer protection is higher than ever.
Which? believes urgent and serious reform of consumer enforcement is needed, including a review of what Trading Standards should do and how. The hollowing out of enforcement services has left some areas with less than one Trading Standards officer per 100,000 people. Despite low resources, enforcement teams – stretched thin – are left to take on large companies and sophisticated crime.
Which? wants the government to restructure the consumer enforcement system, with more focus on its effectiveness, including a better use of intelligence data and sharing of services between what happens nationally, regionally and at local level. Which? also wants to see greater oversight and accountability.
We also want to hear from you if you’ve spotted shops selling age-restricted products or services to underage consumers. Get in touch at yourstory@which.co.uk.
