Barber shop owner fined for tobacco and nicotine offences
A company and its director have been fined for illegal tobacco and nicotine product offences following an investigation by Oxfordshire County Council’s trading standards team.
Arafh Aliammad, 42, of Eldon Court, Glasgow, the owner and director of Empire Barber 2 Ltd, 15 Oxford Road, Kidlington, pleaded guilty to all offences on behalf of himself and the company at a hearing at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Friday 13 March.
Mr Aliammad and the company were ordered to pay £2,936.95 in fines and costs, bringing the total to £5,873.90.
The court heard that trading standards officers inspected the premises on 21 January 2025, seizing 59 unit packs of nicotine pouches and a numbered display of 30 dummy boxes of illegal electronic cigarettes, or vapes. The display created the impression that the products could be legally sold when they could not.
Officers also identified an open display of tobacco products, which is prohibited by law, and found that no A3 tobacco warning notice was displayed, despite this being a legal requirement. The business had previously received written advice from trading standards on similar issues in 2024.
In mitigation, Zee Raja, representing Mr Aliammad, told the court that his client had learned from this experience and was committed to ensuring he did not appear before the court again.
Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: “Illegal tobacco and nicotine products have no place on our high streets. Our trading standards officers work tirelessly to protect residents from products that are unsafe, unregulated and highly addictive, and this case shows that we will take robust action where the law is ignored.”
Mr Aliammad is also due to appear before Reading Magistrates’ Court on 25 September 2026 in relation to allegations of illegal tobacco and nicotine product offences committed at a different premises in Oxford, which he denies.
Davina Walkin, Trading Standards Operations Manager at Oxfordshire County Council, added: “Our trading standards officers will continue to take firm and proportionate action to disrupt the illegal sale of tobacco and nicotine products. Where businesses ignore the law or fail to act on previous advice, we will not hesitate to step in to protect the public.”
Anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco and nicotine products should contact 0300 999 6 999 to report it anonymously or visit www.stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk.
More information
Nicotine is highly addictive. Nicotine pouches are not currently age-restricted and, unlike vapes, there is no bespoke legislation limiting their nicotine content. A Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) study (May 2024) showed that 18 per cent of the surveyed male players and 22 per cent of the female players use nicotine pouches.
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