TESCO has been fined £500 after staff in a Belfast branch were caught displaying cigarettes to a person under 18 years old.
The supermarket chain was also ordered to pay £69 in costs to Belfast City Council, who brought the prosecution, for the offence in the Belmont Road branch last April
The displaying of cigarettes to a person under the age of 18 years is an offence under Section 7 of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 as amended by the Health Act 2009 as amended by the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012.
In a second case, Marc Boyd, trading as Boyd’s in Malvern Terrace, was fined £500 for selling cigarettes to a person under the age of 18 years last September. He was also ordered to pay £69 in costs to Belfast City Council.
A newsagent on the Fall Road was fined £300 for selling cigarettes to a person under the age of 18 last month.
Michael McGovern, trading as McGovern's on Cavendish Street, off the Falls Road, was fined another £300 for selling cigarettes which were not in their original packets.