Sign up to oppose tobacco display ban, says ACS

Convenience store owners can "ill-afford" the estimated £1,000 that a ban on tobacco display would likely cost them, according to an industry body.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) is calling on its members to write to their MPs in the run-up to the House of Commons discussion of the Health Bill, which could see a ban on the display of tobacco at the point of sale.

The Government believes that young people are encouraged to smoke by viewing the tobacco displays in shops.

But the ACS says that in addition to the £1,000 cost - a figure which has been revised downwards from the previous claim of at least £1,850 - the proposals will not achieve their aim of reducing the 200,000 11 to 15-year-olds who smoke.

Instead, the group has called for it to be made illegal for adults to buy tobacco products for the under 18s, along with a crackdown on illegal street sales.

However, Martin Dockrell, director of research and policy at anti-smoking charity ASH, told More Than Business News that the measure would reduce the likelihood of children taking up smoking.

"The more people see tobacco displays, the more aware they are of the brands and the more likely they are to express an interest in smoking," he said.

IMAGE Bloomberg News /Landov