Watford Home Store Ltd fined £4,345 for selling vape to a child

Published: 07 May 2026

Watford Home Store Ltd has been fined a total of £4,345 after a nicotine vape was sold to a child at the shop at 17 The Parade, Watford, during a test purchase operation conducted by Hertfordshire County Council's Trading Standards Service.

The company pleaded guilty to the offence at St Albans Magistrate's Court on Wednesday 6 May 2026. The sentence handed down by the Magistrates comprised of a £1,400 fine, a victim surcharge of £560 and prosecution costs of £2,385.

The illegal sale occurred in August 2025 and was made by a member of staff at the premises. The test operation followed previous advice and warnings issued to the business by Hertfordshire Trading Standards Officers. It is illegal to sell nicotine vapes and tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18.

During the investigation, Surjanlal Singh Babla, the sole director, accepted that there was not an effective system in place to prevent the sale of age-restricted products to children. Investigating officers found no records of staff training, and the refusals log at the premises had not been regularly maintained.

On an advisory inspection prior to the test purchase, officers noted that no refused sales had been recorded for a period of two months, indicating inadequate controls for age-restricted sales.

Andrew Butler, Director of Regulatory Services and Community Safety at Hertfordshire County Council said:

"The sale of vapes to children is a serious matter and businesses selling age-restricted products have a clear legal responsibility to put effective safeguards in place. This case demonstrates the consequences of failing to ensure staff are properly trained and robust checks are carried out. We'll continue to carry out test purchase operations and take enforcement action where necessary to protect young people from harm."

For more information on how Trading Standards works with businesses to help them stay within the law, and acts against those that don't, visit www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards.