UNDERAGE children who try to buy cigarettes and the shopkeepers who break the law by selling to them are to face a renewed clampdown.
Trading standards officers at City of York Council are to mount a series of test purchases using under-16s, to continue the authority's drive against illegal sales of cigarettes to children.
The move comes after planning, transport and environment members met council officers to decide the council's stance on the Enforcement of the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act.
Trevor Phillips, assistant director for environmental regulation, told the meeting: "If children want to get hold of cigarettes, they will try everything they can to get them. All we can do is make it as difficult for them as possible and ensure shopkeepers aware of this requirement."
The authority is hoping this year's campaign will be as successful as last year's, when no cigarettes were sold to underage children used in test purchases by trading standards.
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