£89k of illegal tobacco found hidden in unit

A man avoided a prison sentence after pleading guilty to storing 570,000 smuggled cigarettes.

Alex Rolls, aged 30, of Rochester Croft, Walsall, pleaded guilty to storing the smuggled CT Gold Classic cigarettes when he appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday.

West Midlands Police alerted HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to the haul of cigarettes, which was found at an industrial estate, in Croxtalls Lane, Bloxwich, on October 29, 2008.

They had been hidden behind rolls of insulation.

Around 6,000 pairs of designer trainers, believed to be counterfeit, and fireworks not stored in line with health and safety regulations were also found.

Rolls was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and to pay £500 costs.

HMRC estimated the revenue loss to be £89,000.

Adrian Farley, assistant director of Criminal Investigation, said: "We take tobacco smuggling seriously. It's costing the British taxpayer around £2 billion a year in lost revenue and has a devastating impact on honest retailers having to compete with the black market economy.

Source: This is Walsall - 4 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/d52cIg

Devil is in the detail of new tobacco rules

Retailers, their representatives and tobacco manufacturers predict the tobacco display ban will cause chaos after more details were revealed by the government this week. 

One main concern is the "overly prescriptive" regulations on price lists. They must be printed only in black Helvetica font on a white sheet no larger than A4, and contain only brand names, pack sizes and recommended retail prices.

All words except the title should be no higher than 4mm, which is right on the minimum threshold recommended for people with sight difficulties by the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

Tobacco Retailers Alliance campaign manager Katherine Graham said the regulations would spark widespread confusion. "Specifying font and letter height is just too much," she added.

C-Store's sample list reveals that stores with a large range would have to use a tiny type size.

Further deatils of the regulations are expected later this month.

Source: The Grocer - 5 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/9YuMfk

Senator Lautenberg applauds FDA's decision to keep up fight to regulate electronic cigarettes

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), a longtime Senate leader in the fight against the tobacco industry, applauded the Food and Drug Administration's decision to continue their efforts to regulate electronic cigarettes. At Lautenberg's urging, the FDA is appealing a federal judge's ruling in the Smoking Everywhere case that the agency lacks the authority to regulate e-cigarettes as drug-device combinations. 

"There have been no clinical studies to verify the safety of these products or the long-term health effects. To the contrary, FDA's own laboratory analyses of electronic cigarette samples found them to contain carcinogens and toxins such as antifreeze components," Lautenberg wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. "I disagree with the decision in this case and support the FDA's position that electronic cigarettes are drug-device combinations."

In January, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon agreed with e-cigarette manufacturers Smoking Everywhere Inc. and NJoy that the FDA lacked the authority to regulate their products as drug-device combinations, a ruling that allowed their distribution to continue across the United States. FDA has the authority to ban unsafe drug-device combinations.

Sen. Lautenberg was the first to call on the FDA to protect the public from potential dangers of e-cigarettes. He wrote a letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Frank Torti in March 2009 urging that e-cigarettes be taken off the market until proven safe by the FDA.

Source: Medical News Today - 04 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/dB0tsj

Imperial Tobacco threatens government with court action

Imperial Tobacco has threatened to take the Government to court if it pressed ahead with plans to force the industry to sell cigarettes in plain packets.

Chief executive Gareth Davis said the move would deprive Imps of its registered trademarks and dilute the value of its brands such as JPS and Lambert & Butler.

He warned plain packaging would also make it much easier for criminals to sell counterfeit cigarettes.

Davis told the annual meeting in Bristol: “We do not engage lightly in legal challenge, but we will do so in order to protect our brands.”

So far this financial year, UK volumes have been up by 1% to 45.5billion. Pack prices rose by 27p.

Source: Daily Star - 3 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/98sB1p

'Poor management is closing our pubs': Landlords must adapt, says head of Licensed Victuallers Association

Poor management is to blame for pubs closing across Calderdale, according to a licensee association.

The Bowling Green Inn, Halifax; The White Lion, Mytholmroyd; The Black Lion, Luddenden Foot; The Stirk Bridge, Sowerby Bridge; and The Cell, Halifax, have all closed recently.

And the Cock and Bottle, Southowram, faces becoming a residential property.

Martin Caffrey, operations director at the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association in Brighouse, said: "There are many pubs that have failed that, under new management, have gone on to flourish. The marketplace is constantly changing. Landlords must examine it and have a solid business plan for taking the business forward.

"Some pubs may have been strictly ale houses for years but now they may need to serve food or offer live televised sports.

"They shouldn't assume that because a pub has been there for 100 years that it has a right to survive.

"Licensees need to adapt for local pubs to survive."

But Martin Sharp and Noeline Busfield, new licensees at The Waiters Arms, Sowerby Bridge, said large pub companies are to blame.

Ms Busfield said: "We used to run The Stafford Arms on Huddersfield Road on a lease from a pub company but because of their extortionate rent and beer prices we couldn't carry on.

"We have taken on The Waiters Arms as a free house with no ties to a pub company.

"Being able to go to different suppliers for our alcohol makes things much easier for us.

"People blame the smoking ban but it's not the real problem. Customers may have been initially put off but they have got used to the new laws."

Dave Rowland, operations manager for pub company Punch Taverns, said: "It is not in our interests to see our businesses fail and we are working closely with all of our licensees across Halifax to help them build successful, sustainable businesses.

"In this challenging trading environment, we have increased our support for licensees to more than £2 million a month."

Source: Evening Courier - 4 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cxGTES

Bob gives up cigs to help his wheezing Westie

[A short video of Mr Sherar can be seen by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article]

A Lancashire man has given up smoking for the love of his breathless dog.

Although Bob Sherar suffers cancer himself it was when his pet dog Jake began wheezing and panting every time he lit up a cigarette, he knew the time had finally come to stub out the fags for good.

Bob, 73, of Ashford Road, Savick, Preston, has now made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up cigarettes to give his chesty Westie a breath of fresh air.

Jake, a 15-year-old West Highland Terrier, started suffering from breathlessness and Bob realised his dog's condition became worse in a smokey atmosphere.

Bob, who has smoked all his life after starting at the age of seven, said: "I only smoked about 10 a day, but I never smoked a whole cigarette in one go, but was constantly lighting up and putting out, so was probably smoking about 30 times during the course of a day.

"But I noticed Jake was getting breathless and panting and wheezing whenever I smoked.

"He is a grand fellow and is getting on a bit and I wouldn't hurt him for the world.

"So I decided to give up smoking for Jake. I had been thinking about giving up smoking for a few years, so when Jake's health started suffering, it gave me the push I needed.

"I also thought I should give up cigarettes for my own health as I have cancer of the bladder and smoking is a big cause of this."

Bob, who has a daughter and three grandchildren, contacted NHS Central Lancashire's Stop Smoking Service and with the use of nicotine patches, he managed to kick the habit.

Source: The Gazette - 4 February 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/ake2I1