Banbury burger van owner fined for selling illegal tobacco from van

Keith Richardson, 56, of Parsons Piece in Banbury, pleaded guilty to eight offences when he appeared at Oxford Magistrates’ Court last Friday (February 10).

Richardson was sentenced to a 12-month community order of 180 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities, and was also ordered to pay £1,628 in costs. The courts ordered all the seized tobacco products to be forfeited and destroyed.

After receiving a tip off from a member of the public, an undercover officer from the county council’s trading standards team visited the burger van, which trades as Keith’s Catering Van, at the Hardwick Hill layby in Banbury, and carried out a test purchase of Amber Leaf and Golden Virginia hand-rolling tobacco in March last year.

After another test purchase in June, trading standards officers and police officers executed warrants and seized counterfeit and smuggled tobacco from the van, a motor vehicle, and a residential address.

Jody Kerman, Oxfordshire County Council’s head of trading standards, said: "People can help us to stamp out illegal tobacco and create a healthier and safer Oxfordshire by being vigilant and reporting any suspicious activity using the illegal tobacco hotline.

“We know it can be hard to stop using tobacco products, but help is available. People are three times more likely to successfully quit by using a stop smoking service like Smokefree Oxfordshire. The service is free to everyone living in the county.”

Anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco products should contact 0300 999 6 999 or report it anonymously through the website stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk