Last updated at 17:08, Wednesday, 22 August 2012

RETAILERS are concerned about the threat tobacco smuggling poses to their businesses.

CONCERN: Shop owner Megan Ghuman, of Ghuman Newsagents CANDICE WRIGHT ref: 50037597B002

According to Tobacco Retailers Alliance, one in 10 North West corner shops face closure due to tobacco smuggling and cross-border shopping.

Megan Ghuman, 35, owner of Ghuman newsagents in Buccleuch Street, Barrow, is giving out cards to campaign against the government’s plan to have plain box cigarettes. She said: “Cigarettes should be cheaper. They are not affordable in England, which encourages smuggling. We need customers to buy cigarettes as then they come into the shop and buy something else.”

Linda Graham, 55, from Ghuman newsagents, said: “Smuggling does annoy me as we are here to make a living and it takes away business. Corner shops struggle as it is and tobacco is the footfall of the business, it brings people in to buy other products. I think that it would be a good idea for the government to reduce the tax then hopefully there would be less smuggling.”

Julie Hilton, 29, from William Street Newsagents, Barrow, is also unhappy.

She said: “Cigarettes are popular. It is not right that there is so much smuggling, perhaps there should be less tax on cigarettes.”

Suleman Khonat, a Blackburn retailer and the North West spokesman for the Tobacco Retailers Alliance, said that the government needed to ensure that tax levels were not higher for cigarettes in the UK compared to its European counterparts so there was less temptation for smuggling.

He said: “These results are very worrying for independent retailers like me and demonstrate that tobacco smuggling is so prevalent, it is threatening the existence of a part of the fabric of our communities that so many people rely on.”

The survey also showed one-in-three shops have considered reducing staff numbers, because of the issue.

First published at 16:13, Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk