More than 1.2 million illegal vapes were seized across the UK during 2025.
On the face of it, that sounds like a result. Products taken off shelves, dodgy traders disrupted and Trading Standards doing exactly what we need them to do.
Unfortunately, the figures tell a rather less encouraging story.
Despite the enormous number of illegal products being confiscated, Trading Standards carried out fewer inspections in 2025 than it did the year before. The proportion of inspections resulting in a fine also fell sharply.
Meanwhile, in less than three months, the UK’s new Vaping Products Duty will add £2.20 in tax to every 10ml of e-liquid — potentially increasing the price by £2.64 once VAT is included.
That could make legitimate vaping products considerably more expensive while giving illegal sellers an even bigger price advantage.
More Than 1.2 Million Illegal Vapes Seized
The figures come from Vape Club’s 2026 Illegal Vapes and Nicotine Product Report, which was compiled using Freedom of Information responses from local authorities.
According to the report, 120 local authorities supplied data covering enforcement activity between 2020 and 2025.
The headline figures are staggering:
- 1,265,307 illegal vapes were seized during 2025
- Almost 4.9 million illegal vapes were confiscated over the last three years
- The estimated retail value of those three-year seizures was approximately £39 million
- More than 7.2 million illegal cigarettes were also seized during 2025
- 255,648 disposable vapes were seized after the UK’s single-use vape ban began on 1 June 2025
That last number works out at an average of more than 8,000 illegal disposable vapes being seized every week for the remainder of the year.
Clearly, illegal disposable vapes did not simply vanish when the ban arrived.
They continued entering the country, being distributed and appearing behind shop counters.
However, seizure figures only show us what officers managed to find. They cannot tell us the true size of the illegal market or whether it is growing or shrinking.
The reality is that nobody appears to know exactly how many illegal vaping products are currently being sold across the UK.
And that is a problem in itself.
Fewer Trading Standards Inspections
Trading Standards teams carried out 8,881 inspections involving vaping, tobacco and nicotine products during 2025.
That was down from 9,431 inspections in 2024 — a fall of approximately 5.8%.
The number was still higher than in several earlier years, so it would be unfair to claim that all enforcement activity has collapsed.
Nevertheless, inspections moved in the wrong direction at a time when the scale of the illegal market remained painfully obvious.
Only 1.5% of inspections resulted in a fine. According to Vape Club, that rate was 34% lower than the previous year.
It is important to be precise here. This does not necessarily mean officers found an offence and then chose not to act. The figure compares fines with all inspections, including visits where no breach may have been discovered.
Even so, a fine resulting from just 1.5% of inspections is unlikely to frighten many organised illegal traders.
Illegal Vape Seizures by Region
Some of the regional figures are extraordinary.
- Central Bedfordshire reportedly seized 345,718 illegal vapes in a single year, around three times the previous year’s total.
- Bolton recorded 259,492 seizures, representing an increase of roughly six times.
- Kent recorded another 171,049.
These are not a few oversized vapes being sold from underneath the counter of an otherwise legitimate shop.
Numbers on this scale suggest established supply routes, bulk distribution and traders who believe the potential profits outweigh the chances of being caught and properly punished.
Illicit vaping products also sit alongside a much wider black market involving cigarettes, tobacco, counterfeit goods and other criminal activity.
The House of Commons Library has noted that illicit activity taking place in high-street shops is sometimes connected to organised crime groups.
Not every shop selling a non-compliant vape will necessarily be controlled by an organised criminal gang.
However, buying illicit products can support supply chains connected to serious and organised crime.
The £300 Million Black Market Estimate
Dan Marchant, Director of Vape Club and a founding member of the UK Vaping Industry Association, has estimated that the illegal vape and nicotine market could be worth around £300 million a year.
That is an industry estimate rather than an official government calculation, and the full methodology behind the figure has not been published in the report.
It should therefore be treated as an estimate, not an established measurement of the entire black market.
Nevertheless, it is not difficult to see why illegal vaping products are so attractive to criminals.
Products sold through illicit supply chains may avoid Vaping Products Duty, VAT and the costs associated with product testing, notification and regulatory compliance.
Some illegal vapes exceed the UK’s 20mg/ml nicotine limit or the permitted 2ml tank capacity.
Others may contain prohibited or undeclared ingredients, carry incorrect labelling or may never have been notified to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Other products may be illegal simply because they are single-use devices covered by the disposable vape ban.
There is no single category of “illegal vape”, and not every seized product will present the same level of risk.
What they have in common is that they are being sold outside at least part of the regulatory system legitimate businesses are expected to follow.
What Changes on 1 October 2026?
The UK’s Vaping Products Duty comes into force on 1 October 2026.
The duty will be charged at a flat rate of £2.20 for every 10ml of vaping liquid, regardless of whether the product contains nicotine or how strong that nicotine is.
Because VAT is applied to the price including excise duty, the tax-related increase could reach £2.64 per 10ml if businesses pass the entire cost on to customers.
That means a 10ml bottle could rise by around £2.64.
A 50ml shortfill could face the equivalent of £13.20 in duty and VAT.
A 100ml shortfill could face an increase of £26.40 before any other business costs or pricing changes are considered.
The government hopes the duty will raise revenue and reduce vaping among young people and non-smokers.
The obvious danger is that it also increases the price difference between legal and illegal products.
A legitimate retailer will have to buy properly notified products, pay the correct duty and VAT, follow age-verification rules and comply with packaging, advertising and product regulations.
The illegal trader can ignore the lot.
The larger that price difference becomes, the easier it may be for rogue sellers to tempt customers with supposedly cheap products.
Duty Stamps Will Not Cover Everything Immediately
The government is also introducing a Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme.
From 1 October 2026, newly released duty-liable vaping products will need to carry the appropriate duty stamp.
However, this does not mean every legitimate vaping product on shop shelves must suddenly display a stamp from day one.
Retailers will be allowed to continue selling qualifying unstamped stock manufactured or imported before 1 October until 31 March 2027.
From 1 April 2027, vaping products held outside a duty-suspension arrangement will generally need to carry a duty stamp.
This transition period matters.
During the first six months of the scheme, the absence of a duty stamp will not automatically prove that a product is illegal. It could be legitimate stock produced before the new duty began.
A duty stamp will also indicate the product’s duty status. It should not be treated as automatic proof that the vape complies with every MHRA, safety, packaging and product requirement.
The scheme may eventually make some illegal products easier to identify, but only if officers have the resources to inspect shops and follow up on suspicious stock.
Longer Closure Orders for Rogue Shops
The government has announced plans to allow rogue shops involved in illegal activity to be closed for as long as 12 months.
Existing closure orders can initially last for up to three months and can be extended for a further three, giving a maximum period of six months.
The proposed change would potentially double that maximum.
This could make a genuine difference.
A shop closed for a few weeks or months may simply wait, reopen under a slightly different name and return to business. A full 12-month closure would create a much more serious financial consequence.
Unless of course the closure order is on the business/company itself rather than the shop. If that’s the case then it’s a relatively easy loophole to exploit.
However it works, announcing a power and using it successfully are two different things.
Authorities still need evidence. They need officers to inspect the premises. They need the time and money to pursue the case, and they need legal teams capable of seeing the process through.
Without that enforcement infrastructure, tougher powers risk looking impressive on paper while changing very little on the high street.
What About Vape Retail Licensing?
The Tobacco and Vapes Act provides powers for a mandatory retail licensing scheme covering tobacco and vaping products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The detailed rules, fees, start date and enforcement arrangements will need to be introduced through future regulations and consultation.
The vaping industry has consistently argued that licensing could help distinguish responsible retailers from businesses repeatedly selling illegal products or supplying children.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne has said a retail and distributor licensing scheme could generate more than £50 million a year for enforcement.
Again, that is an industry projection rather than a confirmed government revenue figure.
But the basic principle deserves serious consideration.
A properly designed scheme could create a central record of who is allowed to sell vaping products, make it easier to remove persistent offenders and provide a dedicated source of funding for Trading Standards.
A badly designed scheme could simply create another bill for compliant businesses while illegal sellers carry on ignoring the rules.
The enforcement element is what makes the difference.
Are 80 Apprentices Enough?
The government has provided £10 million to support approximately 80 additional Trading Standards apprenticeship places across England.
More trained officers are clearly welcome.
But 80 apprentices spread across the whole of England will not solve the illegal vape market on their own.
These are also apprenticeship places. It takes time to recruit, train and develop officers with the knowledge and experience needed to investigate complex illicit supply chains.
Trading Standards is responsible for far more than vaping. Teams also deal with unsafe consumer products, counterfeit goods, scams, underage sales, misleading businesses, food standards and countless other local enforcement issues.
Giving officers additional responsibilities without providing long-term staffing and funding is not a serious enforcement strategy.
EcigClick View
Let’s stop pretending the outcome here is difficult to predict. This could be seen coming a mile off.
On 1 October 2026, the government will make every legal bottle of e-liquid significantly more expensive. A compliant retailer will have to account for the new Vaping Products Duty, VAT, product notification, testing, packaging rules and all the other costs that come with operating legitimately.
The illegal seller will pay none of it.
That means the government is about to create an enormous new price advantage for the very traders it claims it wants to drive off the high street.
If the full cost is passed on, the new duty and VAT could add around £2.64 to a 10ml bottle, £13.20 to 50ml and £26.40 to 100ml. An illicit trader avoiding those charges will be able to undercut responsible vape shops by a huge amount while still making a healthy profit.
That is not a minor side effect of the policy. It is a built-in incentive for black-market growth.
Let’s be real for a minute here, there are likely a LOT of adult vapers that will pay the higher price. Some may reduce their consumption or stop vaping altogether. But others will look for cheaper alternatives, and illegal sellers will be waiting for them.
Come to think of it, how many illegal sellers will pay any attention to age restrictions. Yeah.. likely none.
The government is effectively handing criminal suppliers a new sales pitch:
Why pay more for a legal product when we can sell you something cheaper?
That would be concerning even if enforcement were improving. But it isn’t.
Trading Standards carried out fewer inspections in 2025 than the year before, and only 1.5% of inspections resulted in a fine. Councils are already struggling to deal with oversized vapes, banned disposables, illegal nicotine strengths and traders who simply reopen after being caught.
Against that background, introducing a major new tax before fixing enforcement looks reckless.
Duty stamps may help officers identify some non-compliant products. Longer closure orders may eventually make it harder for rogue shops to reopen. A licensing scheme could give authorities greater control over who is allowed to sell vaping products.
But none of those measures will work without enough experienced officers to inspect premises, investigate wholesalers, seize stock and pursue meaningful penalties.
Eighty apprenticeship places spread across England will not come close to closing that gap.
The government is gambling that duty stamps and future enforcement powers will outweigh the far larger profit opportunity it is creating for illegal traders.
That is a dangerous gamble.
Legal vape businesses will pay the duty because they have something to lose. Illegal sellers will ignore it because ignoring the law is already their business model.
When they are eventual caught it’s a game of rinse and repeat. Confiscate the illegal items and they are re-stocked and back to business in a matter of days.
Closure notices will be for the company caught in the act. No doubt these outlets have a number of registered businesses ready and waiting.
If ministers genuinely want to protect consumers and reduce youth access, enforcement must come before taxation — not several years afterwards.
The UK does not need another policy that punishes compliant retailers while criminal traders carry on selling cheaper products from under the counter.
It needs more Trading Standards officers, properly funded investigations, serious financial penalties, action against importers and wholesalers, and a licensing scheme that removes repeat offenders from the market.
Otherwise, the Vaping Products Duty will do more than make vaping more expensive.
It could become the biggest promotional campaign the illegal vape market has ever had.
Government need to support legitimate vape businesses and not regulate and tax them into oblivion.
To recap:
- Tax Vapes and make them more expensive = Illegal sellers with unregulated product
- Place restrictions on container size = Illegal sellers with unregulated product
- Ban a product category = Illegal sellers continue with unregulated product
- Trading standards don’t have the resources to keep on top of illegal sellers = Illegal seller continue with unregulated product
- Trading Standards fines do little to deter = Yes.. you guessed it, Illegal sellers continue with unregulated product
What are your thoughts on all of this? Do you think it’s being handled well? Will a price increase put you off vaping or tempt you to source cheaper product from other sources?
Let us know in the comments below.
Sources
- Vape Club — The 2026 Illegal Vapes and Nicotine Product Report
- HMRC — Introduction of Vaping Products Duty from 1 October 2026
- HMRC — Prepare for Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme
- UK Government — Single-Use Vapes Ban: Information for Businesses
- MHRA — E-Cigarette Regulations for Consumer Products
- House of Commons Library — Tackling Illicit Activity in High Street Shops
- Home Office — New Laws to Shut Down Dodgy High-Street Shops
- Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026
- UK Government — Trading Standards Funding and Apprentice Enforcement Officers
