LET’S BAN VAPES, SAYS SHOPKEEPER


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LET’S BAN VAPES, SAYS SHOPKEEPER
LET’S BAN VAPES, SAYS SHOPKEEPER

HENLEY should be the first town in the country to ban vapes, says a retailer.

Sandie Harrow says she is “frustrated” by how easily vapes are available to buy in the town centre and by the number of children she sees using them.

About 10 shops currently sell the colourful, disposable vapes, which are promoted in large, colourful advertisements which critics say target young people.

Ms Harrow, 76, who runs Stocks boutique and gift shop in Bell Street, called on the town council to try to introduce a ban.

Mayor Kellie Hinton, who has previously criticised a shop for selling vapes, said she would support a campaign to restrict their sale.

In a letter to this week’s Henley Standard, Ms Harrow says: “In the last six months or so, the sale of vapes has exploded.

“We now have W H Smith, Robert Dyas, the post office, supermarkets and at least four food and phone case shops selling vapes. I call most strongly for the town council to stand up as the first in England to try to ban the sale of vapes.”

Ms Harrow, an interior designer who lives in Bell Lane, singled out vape advertisements in front of a bus stop in Bell Street, which is commonly used by schoolchildren.

She told the Henley Standard: “The children are not even a metre away from an advert and nothing is hidden from them.

“I went into the shop and said: ‘I don’t agree at all with you selling vapes to children’.

“They said: ‘Well, we only sell to 18 and over’.

“Pull the other one. Those children at the bus stop are not all 18.

“It’s just appalling, quite appalling.

“It’s the medical side, the damage and what we are building up for the NHS in a few years’ time. There is really bad internal organ damage being done by these vapes and they’re being sold as if they’re sweets -— they’re blackcurrant or raspberry flavour.

“Having a shop in Henley and trying to present a lovely and upmarket image selling beautiful things, which we do, and then four shops down you’ve got this tacky window decoration going on and vapes everywhere, I’m against what they’re doing.”

Ms Harrow said it was “completely incongruous” that hardware retailer Robert Dyas and stationer W H Smith, also in Bell Street, had begun selling vapes.

“W H Smith really has an important placement in every high street – they sell books, magazines, newspapers, cards and now they’re selling vapes.

“It’s interesting that Robert Dyas aren’t selling cigarettes, they’re just jumping on the bandwagon.

“It’s the thing to be jumping on at the moment because once those youngsters are hooked, they really are hooked. The vapes are cynically marketed and so bad for their health. We’re allowing our young to become seriously ill and no one is standing up.

“It’s like watching the glaciers melt and knowing it’s global warming but nobody doing anything.

“We worked to get rid of smoking, which was wonderful, and they made pubs have little smoking areas and it’s so much better.

“In fact, I don’t even know any one who smokes, which I’m sure is the same for a lot of people.

“When we opened here, I wrote to the planners and got permission for my sign but council hasn’t done anything about these shop’s cheap plastic signs. What are we paying our taxes for?”

Ms Harrow said she understood that vapes were a substitute for cigarettes but the single use ones should be banned and the refillable ones sold only in chemists.

She said: “I want Henley to have some conviction and say: ‘No, we are not selling vapes.’

She also highlighted the environmental effects of single-use vapes. Ms Harrow said: “They’re not
recyclable. They cause no end of extra trouble to the ‘Biffas’ of the world who are recycling them and they cause fires on a regular basis in the process of sorting all the rubbish.

“The other thing is that it’s hypocritical because our young are so good nowadays at standing up for the environment and what we should be doing. The whole thing is awful”.

In her letter, she says she is a grandmother, adding: “The tragic consequences vapes bring to the health of our precious young people are widely warned about in the medical world.

“The Government does nothing but whimper around the edges. Why can’t we make a stand, as New Zealand has done, and basically ban them — we are an island too? Do we not care about our young people?

“Let Henley be the one town in England to stand up against this despicable trade and the inappropriate outlets centrally placed in such a beautiful town.”

In September, the Mayor called for a boycott of the Phone Clinic and American Candy Shop, which had moved into the former M&Co premises and has since relocated to the former Crew Clothing premises, both in Bell Street.

Councillor Hinton said: “This is a massive problem for us as a town and is not necessarily the town council’s responsibility but we do have an interest.

“The most obvious problem is the health concern: We’re seeing vapes sold in shops where they sell really attractive colourful sweets and drinks.

“Vapes are also sold in flavours more attractive to children — what 50-year-old man do you know who is attracted to a strawberry and kiwi vape? They are aimed at people who have never smoked before.

“Vaping was widely agreed to be better than smoking but people who seem to have the biggest vape addictions are young people who have never smoked before. I believe this is because of the advertising. The older generation would find such bright colours garish but these are really attractive to the younger generation.

“Litter is also a problem. Not only can the disposable vapes not be reused, we see a number of these on the streets and it’s no better than seeing cigarette butts.

“There are also these horrible stickers. They are not just on every bin but also sign posts, streetlamps and planters. They are really hard to get off and are really unattractive so are an absolute nightmare.

“In Henley we do strive to be better. We’re somewhere that punches well above its weight yet we allow these shops with awful fronts to dominate our high street.

“They don’t keep in line with our shop front guidelines and they don’t respect our community because they’re targeting our children.

“I don’t want to just single out the independent shops; I’m really disappointed and find it disgusting that Robert Dyas and W H Smith also sell them. I cannot for the life of me understand why a DIY store is selling vapes.

“What used to be a beautiful looking shop in Bell Street now is garish and rundown and is selling vapes.

“A shop sold a vape to my underage daughter and I don’t know anyone that wants them in our town.

“I support any campaign to limit the use of vapes in our town. As a town council, we can put pressure on even if we can’t necessarily enforce anything.”

Dr Will Hearsey, a GP at the Hart Street Surgery and a Henley Standard columnist, said vapes had been associated with lung injuries in studies that were emerging.

He said: “We still don’t know enough about it but it’s something we need to be aware of, particularly for young children whose respiratory systems are still developing.

“Children going straight into vaping are potentially putting themselves at risk and we don’t have decades of research on them.

“Even if they were not to go on to other things, there are still documented risks such as lung injury.

“We have to be careful about what’s available for children but also the degree to which we’re actively advertising vapes with all the child-oriented campaigns with bright colours. It is far better for children to not vape at all.”

Dr Hearsey said he would probably support a campaign to ban the sale of vapes in the town.

Henley MP John Howell said: “I quite agree that it is worrying that the number of children using vapes has tripled in the past three years, with 20.5 per cent of children having tried vaping in 2023.

“The advice from the chief medical officer is clear: young people and those who have never smoked should not vape.

“Furthermore, my colleague Andrea Leadsom, minister for public health, has been clear in her view that it is completely unacceptable when businesses knowingly and deliberately encourage children to use a product that was designed for adults to quit smoking.

“In response to the rise in the number of children vaping, the Government has proposed banning disposable vapes, new powers to restrict flavours specifically marketed at children and changing how vapes are displayed in shops.

“In addition, trading standards officers will be able to levy ‘on the spot’ fines to tackle underage tobacco and vapes sales.

“While I appreciate that some people do not like vapes at all, and while they are not risk-free, they have been helpful as a means to stop adults smoking and contributing towards the goal of creating the first smoke-free generation. Thus I think there is a balance to be drawn.

“I am confident that the actions being taken by the Government will help prevent children from vaping while ensuring that adult smokers are able to continue accessing a product that can help them quit.”

A spokeswoman for WH Smith said: “Our high street stores offer a range of products, providing choice and reflecting demand from our customers.

“The sale of all our nicotine and vaping products are not available to anyone under the legal age for purchase and are restricted behind our staffed tilling area.”

Robert Dyas was asked for a response.

• What do you think? Write to: Letters, Henley Standard, Caxton House, 1 Station Road, Henley or email letters
@henleystandard.co.uk


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