A newsagents has been caught selling cigarettes to a 14-year-old just 18 months after committing a similar offfence with a 16-year-old.
Staff at Garratt Lane Newsagents Ltd failed to ask the boy, specially trained by trading standards officers to carry out the test for any ID despite the fact he was chosen becuase he looked young.
This was despite owner Farida Rajwani being warned about a similar offence in March last year.
The company was fined £1,000 by Richmond Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay Wandsworth Council’s legal costs of £1,110 plus a £100 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to one offence of selling to a minor.
The Council's trading standards spokesman Councillor Jonathan Cook said: "Unfortunately there will always be some shopkeepers who flout the law, which is why our trading standards team conduct regular operations like this.
"Any trader we catch selling these kinds of products to children should be under no illusion about the legal sanctions they will face."
As well as tobacco it is illegal for a shop to sell alcohol, fireworks, knives and solvents to anyone under the age of 18. Anyone buying an aerosol paint spray must be at least 16-years-old.
Anyone with information or concerns about items being unlawfully sold to children should call trading standards on 020 8871 7720 or email tradingstandards@wandsworth.gov.uk.
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