Councils across the UK have seized 1.3m illegal vapes since the ban on disposable devices was introduced in June 2025.
Local authorities’ Trading Standards officers confiscated millions of pounds’ worth of vapes in the 12 months between June last year and May 2026. Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council topped the tables with 250,023 seized devices, followed by Hull City Council (204,252), and Ealing Borough Council (86,203).
Swansea Council logged the highest value of seized illegal vapes, confiscating £470,000 worth. Officials from Westminster City Council took vapes worth £201,688, while Manchester City Council officers removed £185,250 worth of illegal devices from the market. In total, £3.2m worth of illegal devices were received.
The data comes from a series of Freedom of Information requests made by Northerner, a company that sells nicotine pouches online.
The firm’s senior director of scientific affairs, Dr Marina Murphy, suggests the UK government considers the Dutch approach to vapes, which bans online sales, allows only tobacco flavoured devices and liquids, and subjects retailers to regular screening to prevent money laundering and sales of prohibited products.
Dr Murphy comments: “The continued availability of illicit vapes shows that prohibition without effective enforcement risks shifting supply from regulated businesses to criminals.”
She adds that “stronger licensing and oversight are needed to ensure consumer safety does not become the unintended casualty of regulation”.
