The sale of tobacco from vending machines has been banned across England, in a bid to curb children’s ready access to cigarettes and to help adults who are trying to quit.
It is estimated that 35 million cigarettes are sold illegally through vending machines to children every year.
The evidence shows that most adult smokers started smoking before they turned 18, with more than 300,000 under-16s trying smoking for the first time each year. Of the 11 to 15 year olds who smoke regularly, 11% say they buy their cigarettes from vending machines, says the Department of Health.
Now, anyone selling cigarettes from a vending machine could be fined up to £2500. Any person found guilty of displaying cigarette adverts on a vending machine could face imprisonment for up to six months, or a fine of £5000, or both.
The ban, which came into force on Friday, is part of the government’s tobacco control strategy, which it published in March.
This pledged to cut smoking rates by the end of 2015 from 21% to 18.5% or less among adults and from 15% to 12% or less among 15 year olds.
Announcing the ban, which took effect on Friday, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that smoking remained “one of the biggest and most stubborn challenges in public health.”
“Cigarette vending machines are often unsupervised, making it easy for children to purchase cigarettes from them,” he said. “The ban on cigarette sales from vending machines will protect children by making cigarettes less accessible to them – we want to do everything we can to encourage young people not to start smoking in the first place.”
Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies added: “We believe this will reduce the numbers of new smokers and support people who are trying to quit.”
Adult smoking rates have fallen from over 45% in the early 1970s to 21% in 2008, but treating smoking related diseases is estimated to cost the NHS around £2.7bn per year and the wider costs to society of smoking are estimated at almost £14bn per year.
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