Heart Foundation welcomes cigarette vending ban

According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), around 200,000 young people start smoking regularly in England each year and 11 per cent of 11 to 15-year-old regular smokers in England and Wales get their cigarettes from vending machines.

The charity, which has been campaigning for the ban to cut off the easy source of tobacco, said more than half (56 per cent) of trading standards test purchases with under-age volunteers resulted in successful sales from vending machines in 2010/11. Betty McBride, Director of Policy and Communications at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Thousands of children who are at risk of addiction regularly get tobacco from these machines, which of course, conveniently don’t ask them to prove their age.

“These children are often blissfully unaware of the damage smoking does to their health, and by the time they realise, they’re hooked.

“Scrapping these machines cuts off an easy source of tobacco for existing young smokers and makes it harder for a new generation to start.

“With the tobacco industry increasingly reliant on young smokers to bolster their profit margins, they’re fighting tooth and nail to stop any changes that might hit their bottom line.

“It’s more important than ever that we face down their protestations and protect our children from this deadly addiction.”