A Sunninghill business and its director have been prosecuted following an investigation by the Royal Borough’s Trading Standards team where 3,800 cigarettes were discovered that did not comply with UK packaging legislation.
J&B Stores Ltd, trading as Sunninghill Wines, in Sunninghill Road, was also found to have 14 tubs of shisha and 11 packets of cigars that failed to comply.
The products cannot legally be sold in the UK as they didn’t display the UK duty stamp and were non-compliant with UK tobacco labelling regulations – the wording on the products was in Polish - so did not bear the correct information and warnings that UK regulations require.
Company director Bhajan Khaneja, of High Street, Sunninghill, appeared at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Friday 6 October where he pleaded guilty to four charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulation 2015 and Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. The company also admitted six charges under the same regulations.
The company was fined £2,000, with a victim surcharge £190, while Khaneja was fined £1,000, with a victim surcharge £190. The council’s costs of £3,815 were ordered to be to be paid in full. The court also granted the council a destruction order for the tobacco products.
The items were discovered when the council’s Trading Standards officers undertook inspections of various shops with the help of tobacco sniffer dog Yoyo.
Greg Nelson, the council’s Trading Standards and Licensing Manager, said: “These fines clearly show that the court agreed with our view that these were serious matters, which undermined fair and legal trading in the Royal Borough and allowed tobacco products which did not have the correct labelling and warnings to be sold.”
Councillor Simon Werner, the council leader and cabinet member for community partnerships, public protection and Maidenhead, said: “I’d like to congratulate our Trading Standards team for their hard work and for securing this positive result. This successful prosecution demonstrates the council’s commitment to protecting its residents, as well as businesses who sell legitimate products. The team will continue to carry out checks across our borough to help ensure all products being sold are legitimate and to give us the best possible chance of seizing and, ultimately, preventing these items from reaching consumers, taking robust action where necessary.”