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New 18 tobacco rule ignorance
Retailers are concerned that many 16 and 17 year-olds may be unaware that the tobacco sales age limit is going up, making stores possible conflict flashpoints and leaving shop workers open to abuse and threats.
The increase in the legal age for buying tobacco - from 16 to 18 years-of-age - comes into force in England and Wales on Monday (1 October). Retailers are well aware of the changes to their legal responsibilities but the British Retail Consortium (BRC) believes teenagers and parents may not be as well informed despite the best efforts of the Department of Health and retailers to explain the changes.
The warning follows the release of interim findings from the BRC’s Annual Retail Crime Survey which show a fifty percent increase in incidents of physical violence against shop workers in the past year. Over the same period recorded threats of violence against staff more than doubled.
BRC Director General Kevin Hawkins said: “We support the increase to 18. In the longer term it should make age-restriction rules simpler for customers and retailers by bringing cigarettes into line with products such as alcohol, fireworks and glue. It may also produce the intended health benefits.
Topics: Tobacco |
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