There is less illegal tobacco in Torbay this month thanks to the efforts of Yoyo the Tobacco Detection Dog, his handler from the Illegal Tobacco Unit, and Torbay Council’s Trading Standards Team.

The Illegal Tobacco Unit team visited Torbay on Tuesday 20 October 2015 with a public information stand in Lower Union Lane. The event was extremely successful in raising awareness around the issues that illegal tobacco brings into a community. Many members of the public took the time to visit the stand which was also staffed by representatives from Torbay’s Stop Smoking Service, to learn more about this serious issue. 

During the event a member of the public provided valuable information about a local premises suspected of selling illegal tobacco. Following this intelligence, Trading Standards Officers were able to investigate the premises and with the help of Yoyo and his Handler, were able to seize a quantity of illegal tobacco. 

Deputy Mayor and Executive Lead for Health and Wellbeing, Cllr Derek Mills, said: “This event was a great success. The team were able to help raise awareness of such a prevalent problem and with the useful information provided by a member of the public were also able to put their skills into action and seize illegal tobacco from a local premises.” 

The sale of illegal tobacco is a criminal offence. Anyone wishing to report the selling of illegal tobacco can report anonymously online to Trading Standards at www.stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk or call the Illegal Tobacco Hotline (operated by the Tackling Illegal Tobacco for Better Health Partnership) on 0300 999 0000. They cannot trace your call and will never ask for your name. 

The South West campaign is part of the wider Tackling Illegal Tobacco Programme which draws together local authorities in the South West with HMRC, Trading Standards, police forces, Scambusters, Crimestoppers and other key partners to tackle this issue.

Anyone wishing to stop smoking in Torbay can contact the free stop smoking service on telephone 0300 456 1006.

Yoyo the Tobacco Detection Dog