Hastings vape store sold two single cigarettes for $5 to customers who knew the code

A Hawke’s Bay vape and tobacco shop owner and an employee have been fined $8000 for selling single cigarettes and other breaches, despite Public Health Unit warnings spanning more than two years.

A judge in the Hastings District Court on September 11 was told loose, single “Double Happiness” cigarettes were displayed on the counter at Discount Specialist, in Avenue Rd East, Hastings, and were able to be purchased by an undercover agent using code, asking for “two whites” and paying $5.

Summaries of facts say that on February 21, the Public Health Unit received a complaint that Discount Specialist was selling single cigarettes, in breach of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act.

The Discount Specialist vape and tobacco store in Hastings, where two loose cigarettes were sold for $5. Single cigarette sales are illegal and the shop owner and an employee were fined a total of $8000 for the offences and related offending. Photo / Chris Hyde

An “educational visit” followed and a letter was sent advising the owner it was an offence, and there had since been “significant efforts” made by the unit to ensure Discount Specialist was complying with smoking and vaping regulations.

It included a non-compliance letter sent on August 1, 2022, but further complaints were made, a summary says.

On June 1, a controlled purchase was made for single cigarettes, after which a smokefree enforcement officer entered the shop and spoke to an employee. The loose cigarettes were visible on the counter and another non-compliance letter was sent later that month.

A visit on June 23, after the unit had received a complaint of sales to a minor and a further inspection on July 12, 2023 with police assistance, found tobacco products on display throughout the store, including a cabinet being left open when it should have been closed, cartons of cigarettes on the counter and single cigarettes were beside the till.

With all charges admitted, employee Sally Bing Guo was fined $3000 on each of two charges of illegally selling single cigarettes, and she and owner Shunguo Wu were each fined $1000 relating to the charges of illegally having the product on display.

The summary said that on June 23, 2023, Wu was interviewed at Hastings Police Station and, when asked about products visible that day, said they were products brought in by family members visiting that day.

Interviewed again at the station on August 8, 2023, the defendant recalled the cabinet having been left open on July 12 and said further product was visible as it had just been delivered.

Bing Guo told an enforcement officer on June 1, 2023, that she could not remember selling single cigarettes that day and that she had been told by the owner not to sell singles, and on August 8, she acknowledged she was aware selling single cigarettes was illegal and that tobacco must not be displayed.

The prosecution came as the Ministry of Health steps up action against repeat offenders, including a record $56,000 in fines for one outlet in Christchurch, where another outlet had fines of $36,000.

Judge Christopher Harding accepted a Crown submission that the fines must be more than just a “cost of being in business” and thus be a deterrent.

Noting there was no guidance from higher courts, with a Christchurch decision awaited, he said: “Selling individual cigarettes has the prospect of making them more available to a wider range of people, which is clearly against the intention of the legislature.”

An Ministry of Health statement last week said 600 retailers were targeted as part of controlled purchase operations in July, when supervised volunteers younger than 18 attempted to buy cigarettes or vape products from both general and specialised stores.

As a result of the operation, 64 retailers – “the highest number ever” – received infringement notices for selling to minors.

The Ministry of Health says further prosecutions are pending, while anti-vaping lobbyists are urging the public to make submissions on the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill No 2, on which public submissions to the Parliamentary Health Committee close at 11.59pm on Friday.

Vape-Free Kids NZ spokeswoman Charyl Robinson, of Wellington, says in her opinion the prosecutions highlight the willingness of the vape and tobacco industry and retailers to push boundaries, and the bill does not go far enough in steps to protect young people in circumstances where the full impacts of vaping are yet to be seen.

The group was established by mothers concerned with habits and addictions being established by children and young teens, and who want politicians to honour pledges to slash the numbers of outlets, ensure better oversight of retailers and generally the limiting of young people’s access to vapes.

Robinson says the submissions, which can be done online, have become urgent because of the short period that submissions have been open for.