Lymington shops caught selling vape gear to child in police operation

Two Lymington shops have been caught selling vape gear to a child in a police operation.

Officers carried out test purchases using a 16-year-old volunteer in response to reports from schools and parents in Lymington and Pennington.

Eight shops were targeted, with six passing the test and two failing.

A Facebook post after the exercise said: "This was not about trying to catch anyone out, or being creative to try and achieve a purchase.

"We would have been more than satisfied if the child was challenged in every store entered."

Police would now be working with the stores involved to "ensure staff training is improved and that this can't happen again".

"Further operations will follow, trading standards will be updated and consideration will be given to prosecutions where repeated failures are identified," the post continued.

Stores can be fined up to £2,500 for selling vapes to underage customers.