Between February and April 2023, a Glasgow registered company called YSK Enterprises Limited imported 352,688 vapes from China. According to the Insolvency Service, the shipments were declared to Border Force as medical nebulisers rather than e-cigarettes. One consignment was intercepted at the port of Harwich when officers found the goods did not match the paperwork describing them.

The company, run by directors Kyle McGinness and Leanne Moynes, told HM Revenue and Customs it owed no VAT on its vape sales and never filed a single corporation tax return. HMRC later calculated that the business owed almost £15 million in unpaid VAT and customs duty, on top of a further £437,101 in corporation tax. YSK Enterprises went into liquidation in 2024, and the liquidator could not establish what happened to more than £1.6 million of the company's assets after Moynes failed to hand over its accounting records.

In June 2026, both directors were disqualified from running a company for nine years, among the longest bans available under UK insolvency law. Dave Magrath of the Insolvency Service said the pair had gone to considerable lengths to disguise what they were importing, while Border Force's Phillip Holliday described illegal vape and tobacco imports as a trade that undercuts honest businesses and damages high streets.

Mosh News Trading Ltd, which traded in Chester as City News and Vape Hut, offers a smaller scale but equally instructive example. Trading Standards officers inspecting the Bridge Street premises seized more than 2,800 illegal vaping devices, some containing nicotine at levels several times above the UK's legal limit. When officers returned for a later visit, after the business had already been given compliance advice, they found further non compliant vapes and illicit tobacco hidden in locked storage and other concealed areas.

At Chester Crown Court, the company's sole director pleaded guilty to multiple offences. Judge Everett, who said he was unimpressed that further offending had continued so soon after the defendant had spoken with probation, ordered a confiscation of £400,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, alongside £3,000 in separate fines for the vape offences. Maria Byrne of Cheshire West and Chester Council said the case showed that businesses putting profit before public safety can expect to be caught and to face the consequences.

The third case began with complaints from members of the public about a shop called Lewiatan on Sackville Street in Skipton. When North Yorkshire Trading Standards officers inspected the premises, they found 61 vapes holding more than the legal 2ml of nicotine containing liquid and 77 that failed to meet labelling rules, concealed inside confectionery boxes on the shop floor. Some of the seized devices were advertised as good for around 15,000 puffs, compared with an average of around 600 puffs for a compliant device of similar size. Officers also found counterfeit and incorrectly packaged tobacco at the back of the store.

Complaints continued even after a change of director, prompting further visits by Trading Standards and North Yorkshire Police in September and October 2025. At York Magistrates' Court in August 2026, the company and its two former directors pleaded guilty to a range of offences covering counterfeit and non compliant tobacco and vaping products, and were fined a combined total of several thousand pounds in fines, surcharges and costs. The council later revoked the shop's alcohol licence. Inspector Paul Crabtree of North Yorkshire Police said officers had direct experience of illegal vapes ending up in the hands of children, with some requiring hospital treatment.

None of the three cases above involved a single obvious giveaway. Instead, each one came down to a small set of practical details that any buyer can check for themselves.

• The tank or pod holds more than 2ml of e-liquid, or a bottle containing any nicotine holds more than 10ml. Both are hard limits under UK law.
• The nicotine strength is above 20mg per ml. Every case above involved products that exceeded this legal ceiling by a wide margin.
• The packaging makes no mention of a UKCA or CE mark, carries no health warning, and does not use a child resistant cap.
• The advertised puff count sounds implausible. A genuine device averages around 600 puffs, not the 15,000 claimed for some of the seized stock in case three.
• It is being sold from under the counter, from a locked cupboard, hidden among sweets or other goods, or for cash only with no receipt offered.

For the full set of rules covering age checks and sales, see our guide to UK vape laws and regulations and our page on age verification.