$5000 fine for selling cigarettes to minor

By Emma Spillett
Updated November 6 2012 - 3:06am, first published January 19 2012 - 10:38am
$5000 fine for selling cigarettes to minor
$5000 fine for selling cigarettes to minor

A Port Kembla woman has been fined $5000 for selling cigarettes to a minor, after being nabbed handing over the packet to a teenager without asking to see any proof of her age.Tracy Marston sold the packet of Winfield Blues to a 16-year-old girl last year, coughing up the tobacco products but not checking the teen’s age or requesting any form of identification, Wollongong Local Court heard yesterday.The Warilla service station attendant was caught in a statewide smoking sting after she unwittingly sold the cigarettes to a girl posing as a genuine purchaser, who was actually assisting the NSW Health Department in testing tobacco compliance.Marston, who did not appear in court yesterday, was working at the Woolworths Caltex Service Station in Warilla Grove when the teen and a fellow minor entered the store on June 19 last year.The pair, both volunteers with the Health Department, approached Marston about 11.35am and one bought the cigarettes.Marston, failing to ask either girl for their ID, later learned of the illegal transaction and said she was ‘‘embarrassed and disappointed in herself’’, facts presented before the court stated.Magistrate Michael Stoddart yesterday convicted the woman of selling a tobacco product to a person aged under 18 and ordered her to pay the hefty fine.NSW Health prosecuted just 20 people last year for selling cigarettes to children, despite having conducted 158 inspections in the South Eastern Sydney Illawarra area alone.A spokesperson said prosecution was not always pursued after a controlled purchase operation, particularly if sellers were also minors or known to have mental health or medical issues.The Sales to Minors program regularly tests compliance with tobacco product laws as part of a statewide crackdown on retailers selling cigarettes to minors.NSW Health tobacco compliance officer Bradley Pope yesterday told the court that the maximum fine for a first offence was $11,000.Individuals face a potential $55,000 fine for further offences.

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