Crawley shop banned from selling vapes and tobacco after underage-sales case

A Crawley shop has been banned from selling vapes, tobacco products and cigarette papers for one year after West Sussex Trading Standards secured a Restricted Premises Order.

West Sussex County Council said the order applies to Capital Direct Ltd, trading as Broadway Bazaar, at 28-32 The Broadway in Crawley. The council described it as the first Restricted Premises Order obtained by West Sussex Trading Standards.

The council’s account says the action followed a long-running investigation into underage vape sales. Trading Standards first identified an underage sale during a January 2024 test purchase, with further incidents reported in 2024 and 2025. In August 2025, the company pleaded guilty to two offences of selling vapes to underage customers.

What changed in 2026

According to the council, concerns continued after the earlier prosecution. Evidence presented to the court included reports that a 14-year-old had been sold vapes in 2026 and a failed Sussex Police test purchase involving a 17-year-old volunteer.

The court then granted a one-year order prohibiting the sale of tobacco products, cigarette papers and nicotine products, including vapes, from the premises.

This is an enforcement story about alleged and admitted sales practices at one named business. It is not evidence about any particular compliant adult vaping product. For adult smokers or vapers, the broader relevance is that local enforcement is increasingly focused on retailers that fail to keep age-restricted nicotine products away from children.

UK context

GOV.UK’s consumer product guidance says the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations introduced requirements intended to support product safety, consumer information and the protection of children. Those rules sit alongside local Trading Standards work and other restrictions that apply to age-restricted nicotine products.

NHS advice remains clear that children and non-smokers should not vape. It also says adult smokers who switch completely from cigarettes to vaping reduce exposure to many toxins in smoke, while stressing that vaping is not risk-free.

The Crawley order therefore sits in a familiar policy tension: vaping may have a role for adult smokers who are trying to stop smoking, but retail controls are meant to prevent access by under-18s and non-smokers.