Co-op demands tougher action as 44% smokers buy illegal cigarettes in corner shops

Co-op is calling on government to ramp up funding, increase shop raids, and scale up use of the Tobacco Track and Trace system to tackle a “shadow economy” in illicit tobacco, after research revealed nearly half of UK smokers are buying illegal cigarettes from corner shops.

The call comes as the convenience retailer commissioned a new policy white paper called Legitimate High Street Framework, written by criminologist Professor Emmeline Taylor. It highlights the importance of government and local authorities focusing their attention on disrupting organised crime networks.

Co-op also commissioned a YouGov survey, showing over one third of UK smokers (36%) have bought illicit cigarettes, either illegal imported branded cigarettes, counterfeit unbranded, or unknown brand cigarettes. This increased to 49% for smokers aged 35 to 44, followed by 47% of 18 to 24-year-olds, and 40% of 25 to 34-year-olds.

Twenty-nine per cent of smokers did not know counterfeit cigarettes could contain unknown or unsafe ingredients, while 67% said they were aware they may not be pure, but were willing to take the risk.

The main incentive is price, with 62% of smokers saying they bought illegally because it was cheaper. A recent undercover operation conducted by Co-op targeted 24 seemingly legitimate shops and found 18 of them (75%) were selling illegal tobacco with an average price of £5 a pack. The highest price was £8.

According to Co-op’s survey, common places smokers bought illicit cigarettes were often trading under the guise of legitimate businesses.

It found 44% of smokers said they had bought illicit tobacco from corner shops, 15% from vape shops, 11% from independent supermarkets, and 4% from barbers.

Freedom of Information requests submitted by Co-op revealed local councils in England were “woefully absent in tackling these criminals”, the convenience retailer said.

The FOIs revealed, on average, councils visited four shops a month to investigate the sale of illegal cigarettes, with confiscations happening from one shop every two weeks. This is the equivalent of one illegal cigarette being seized per resident over three years.

Co-op said activity also varied massively by location, with 66% of seizures and over 75% of confiscated illegal cigarettes undertaken by 25% of local councils.

However, there was evidence that when action is taken, results can be achieved. Co-op’s FOI request showed when local councils visited suspected shops, they found illegal cigarettes almost half (43%) of the time, confiscating an average of 8,000 illegal cigarettes per seizure.

But with the number of raids limited, Co-op said “real change wasn’t happening”. Closure notices and orders provided local councils and Trading Standards with certain powers, but they were not being used, it added.

Alongside a low number of raids, efforts to tackle illicit tobacco were also being hampered by limited use of the Tobacco Track and Trace (TT&T) system. This enables all tobacco products in the UK to be tracked through a legitimate supply chain to the retailer.

While some Trading Standards have increased their use of TT&T through a programme called Operation Cece, the Co-op FOI request highlighted the potential to detect and prevent crime through TT&T was “significantly underutilised”.

It found 122 councils reported less than 500 TT&T referrals from more than 8,200 seizures in total – fewer than 6%.

The vast majority of these referrals (75%) were reported by 15 councils, with more than half (57%) reporting no engagement with the track and trace technology at all.

“The evidence we have collated shows how shadow and illicit economies are shaping the face of high streets up and down the UK, creating an unsafe environment, impacting legitimate businesses, preventing £1.4bn reaching the public purse,” said Co-op director of public affairs and campaigns Paul Gerrard.

“Co-op has been the leading voice on tackling retail crime within our own shops, but we need government and local authorities to invest more time, money and effort into fighting the illicit tobacco trade, which is growing to unprecedented levels, as the £30m committed by the government to this issue won’t even touch the sides of the problem.

“Increased investment now will reap long-term benefits, not only to the public purse, but to drive social and commercial benefits of thriving high streets and communities.”

Professor Taylor said: “Britain’s high streets are the lifeblood of communities. However, we can see that crime is not simply a consequence of high street decline, it is now one of its principal drivers.

“Illicit tobacco, retail theft and the stolen goods market not only generate victims, but they also distort local economies, undermine legitimate commerce, erode public confidence, and weaken the opportunities for successful regeneration.

“The proposed Legitimate High Street Framework is a criminology-informed approach to providing a coherent framework for protecting lawful enterprise, disrupting organised crime and restoring confidence. If Britain’s high streets are to experience the renaissance envisaged under Andy Burnham’s policy platform, tackling crime must be recognised as a prerequisite for renaissance, not simply a parallel objective.”