Nearly a quarter of all illegal vapes seized in the UK were found in Greater Manchester

Photo: Greater Manchester Police

Illegal vapes

Nearly a quarter of all illegal vapes seized in the UK were found in Greater Manchester.

Just five boroughs – Rochdale, Manchester, Salford, Wigan and Bolton – accounted for the 345,684 dodgy vapes taken by councils. That represents 22 percent of the 2023 nationwide total of roughly 1.5 million.

It means that there was one illicit e-cigarette for every eight Greater Mancunians, according to the ‘2024 Illegal Vaping report’. The figures, released following a freedom of information request, shows how quickly the illicit products have become an issue.

Manchester saw no seizures until 2022, when the statistic was 13,960. A year later, it was 158,434.

Rochdale also saw an increase, with 11,668 vapes seized in 2021, 10,051 in 2022 and 23,439 in 2023.

Salford trading standards officers took the most vapes in the five-year period. In 2019, officers confiscated 17,493, then 42,033 in 2020, which fell to 5,477 in 2021. Two years ago, it again rose to 183,749, and remained a six-figure-sum at 112,060 in 2023.

The figures highlight ‘the issues once prevalent in the cigarette black market’ like underage use, potentially dangerous products, and unregulated sales, said Dan Marchant.

“The best deterrent for any crime is the likelihood of being caught and right now that is incredibly low, and rogue retailers are taking full advantage of this,” said Mr Marchant, the director of Vape Club, a e-cig retailer which commissioned the research. “We have to create an environment where there is much more chance of being caught.”

The sky-rocketing numbers in Manchester may be in part down to a crackdown on ‘Counterfeit Street’. Both council officers and GMP cops have closed numerous dodgy retailers on Bury New Road, in Strangeways, with illicit vapes frequently being taken as part of their raids.

Ethan Davies, Local Democracy Reporter