Bridgnorth phone shop owner has vape sale case re-opened and fine downgraded
A vape shop owner fined £6k over the sale of a vape to a minor successfully had his case re-opened and the punishment downgraded to a conditional discharge.
Ahsan Tariq, who runs Mobile World at Central Court, High Street, Bridgnorth, had been convicted in his absence at Telford Magistrates Court earlier this year.
At the hearing he was fined £6k over a charge of selling a nicotine vape to a person under 18, on July 4, 2022 – the buyer had been an undercover volunteer working for Shropshire Council.
However, Mr Tariq, applied to re-open the case – an application that was accepted by the court, meaning that the £6k fine was dropped.
At a hearing in April he pleaded guilty to the same charge but put forward mitigation that the sale had been carried out by a trainee, not himself.
Sentencing on the same charge he was given a conditional discharge for 18 months, was ordered to pay £500 costs and a victim surcharge of £26.
