Cumbria crackdown on ice-cream van tobacco sales

Cumbria Trading Standards has vowed to step up its efforts in stamping out counterfeit tobacco and underage sales following the conviction of an ice-cream seller who sold fake fags to kids.

The pledge came following the conviction of Anthony Thomas Wharton, an ice-cream seller who was convicted of selling counterfeit cigarettes to children following a trading standards investigation.

Furness Magistrates’ Courts heard how Wharton, 61, targeted kids from his ice-cream van, selling fake Regal cigarettes at £3.50 a packet.

Wharton, of Marsden Street, Barrow, was given a 12-month community order, requiring him to do 60-hours of unpaid work, and pay £350 costs to Cumbria County Council.

Phil Ashcroft, head of Cumbria Trading Standards, said: “He knew exactly what he was doing by using his van as a method of attracting children and the sale of these cigarettes from his ice-cream van is illegal and completely inappropriate.”

“I hope this sends out a message to anyone else thinking of selling illegal cigarettes – to children or adults – that we will catch up with them.”

Read the full story here.