Vending machines made it easy for under-18s to buy cigarettes because they were self-service and often unsupervised.
In 2010, 8% of 11 to 15 year olds who regularly smoked said that vending machines were a usual source of cigarettes.
This is why, from 1 October 2011, the Government made it illegal to sell cigarettes from vending machines.
Closing down this source of tobacco will help to reduce the number of young people smoking and support adults who are trying to quit smoking.
For more information, see these key documents:
- Guidance for businesses and local authority regulatory officers
- A summary leaflet for businesses (available from the same page on the Business Link website)
- Impact Assessment for the prohibition of the sale of tobacco from vending machines
Relevant legislation on tobacco vending machines (and the accompanying explanatory memoranda) can be found at these links:
- Section 3A of the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 (as inserted by section 22 Health Act 2009)
- The Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines)(England) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/864)
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