Fears cigarette ban may finish newsagents
Fears cigarette ban may finish newsagents
10 December 2008
By David Coates, Business Reporter
Newsagents fear plans to force them to take cigarettes off display in their shops maybe the final nail in the coffin.
One newsagent in Preston said if his cigarette sales were to drop he would be relying on "meagre" sales of lottery tickets and scratch cards to survive.
Health Secretary Alan Johnston said yesterday supermarkets would be hit first by the ban which aims to cut the number of underage smokers.
He claimed corner shops and newsagents would have to diversify anyone as smoking rates dropped.
David Sturzaker, who has run Cop Lane News in Penwortham, near Preston, for 25 years, said the majority of underage smokers bought cigarettes from vending machines which the government has ruled out banning.
He said: "There are 200,000 kids smoking, what about the five million adults who legally buy cigarettes and we legally sell too?
"We have a strict rule that we do not sell to anyone under-18 anyway, so this is unlikely to have any effect on us anyway and I think these kids will find cigarettes from somewhere if they really want them."
Danny Chauhan, who runs a newsagents on Beech Drive in Fulwood, Preston, said he would wait to see the government's proposals in full but said newsagents were concerned about the impact it could have.
The plans announced by Mr Johnson will ban prominent displays and advertising in shops.
The Health Secretary said: "Advertising has been removed from television, film and newspapers, the only point now where there is advertising is point-of-sale.
"Other countries have found when they banned point-of-sale displays, they reduced the number of young people taking up smoking."
In a written statement to Parliament, he promised a "fully inclusive" implementation with all possible help given to businesses to deal with any impact.
http://www.lep.co.uk
10 December 2008
By David Coates, Business Reporter
Newsagents fear plans to force them to take cigarettes off display in their shops maybe the final nail in the coffin.
One newsagent in Preston said if his cigarette sales were to drop he would be relying on "meagre" sales of lottery tickets and scratch cards to survive.
Health Secretary Alan Johnston said yesterday supermarkets would be hit first by the ban which aims to cut the number of underage smokers.
He claimed corner shops and newsagents would have to diversify anyone as smoking rates dropped.
David Sturzaker, who has run Cop Lane News in Penwortham, near Preston, for 25 years, said the majority of underage smokers bought cigarettes from vending machines which the government has ruled out banning.
He said: "There are 200,000 kids smoking, what about the five million adults who legally buy cigarettes and we legally sell too?
"We have a strict rule that we do not sell to anyone under-18 anyway, so this is unlikely to have any effect on us anyway and I think these kids will find cigarettes from somewhere if they really want them."
Danny Chauhan, who runs a newsagents on Beech Drive in Fulwood, Preston, said he would wait to see the government's proposals in full but said newsagents were concerned about the impact it could have.
The plans announced by Mr Johnson will ban prominent displays and advertising in shops.
The Health Secretary said: "Advertising has been removed from television, film and newspapers, the only point now where there is advertising is point-of-sale.
"Other countries have found when they banned point-of-sale displays, they reduced the number of young people taking up smoking."
In a written statement to Parliament, he promised a "fully inclusive" implementation with all possible help given to businesses to deal with any impact.
http://www.lep.co.uk
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