Cigarette display ban will boost illegal sales

GOVERNMENT plans to ban cigarette displays in shops will boost black market tobacco sales, shopkeepers say.
In December last year the Government announced plans to force shop owners to store all tobacco products under the counter.
The Government believe it will curb teenage smoking.
But tobacconists, including Kirklees councillor Mohammed Sarwar, believe it will ruin their trade and encourage smokers to buy counterfeit and illegally imported cigarettes.
A study from of 26,000 UK shopkeepers by the Tobacco Retailers Alliance found 81% of convenience shop owners in Yorkshire believed the illegal tobacco business would benefit from a law which prohibits tobacco displays in shops.
Clr Sarwar, who owns Fair Price, Newsome Road, said: “People think the prices for legal tobacco are high and they can get imported cigarettes for less. Already shopkeepers are struggling.
“Yesterday 80% of my sales were cigarettes. When display units are stopped I think there will be a big loss.
“I think it will increase black market cigarette sales and create more problems for shopkeepers.
“Also if you have to bend down to get the cigarettes someone could hit you over the head and steal from the till.”