Two Exmouth shops close for good

Both sold illegal items

Two shops in prominent locations in Exmouth have been permanently closed due to their sales of counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes.

Classic Mini Market, which occupies the former Santander branch on Rolle Street, and Phone Zone in The Parade were served with closure orders due to a raft of issues.

The action was taken by Devon & Cornwall Police, alongside the Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service, which ensures retail outlets aren’t selling fake or illegal items.

The Exmouth Police Facebook page noted that “more court orders” had been obtained in relation to the pair of shops and that they had been closed with immediate effect earlier this week.

“Officers have had a number of interactions with these illegal businesses over the past couple of months,” the town’s police said.

“This has included immigration offences, harassing passers by including females, sale of illegal/fake tobacco products, sale to minors, tax offences, highly dangerous/illegal vapes, etc.”

It added that the shops were “nearly always at the top o the list of the most complained about things in Exmouth”.

It stated the Classic Mini Market shop had no tills, card machines, or prices on stock, and that people were apparently living in them.

The post questioned where the money goes that the shops earn, and that the force locally knew of other premises “continuing in this enterprise”.

A spokesperson for Heart of the South West Trading Standards said it had assisted the police on the closure orders.

“Our trading standards officers made test purchases of counterfeit cigarettes from both premises, in order to provide police with evidence of some of the offences committed by these businesses,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson confirmed that trading standards had previous intelligence concerning the proprietors, and that this helped lead to the decision to conduct test purchases.

Asked whether there would be further action such as fines or court action, the trading standards spokesperson said that “further investigation is ongoing”.

The spokesperson added that if a criminal conviction is secured in circumstances such as these, then “consideration can be given to the use of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) as an additional legal measure to address repeat offending.

“However, CBOs are person-specific orders, so have their limitations,” the spokesperson said.

“This is a national problem which requires a coordinated approach involving multiple partner agencies, including the National Crime Agency and their initiative, Operation MACHINIZE, which targets high-street, cash-intensive businesses used to launder money, evade taxes, and exploit workers.