People selling illegal cigarettes are robbing Bradford’s newsagents of desperately-needed trade, according to the National Federation of Retail Newsagents.

Stephen Hunter, the Federation’s Bradford secretary says the knock-on effects of people buying their tobacco from elsewhere means they don’t pop into their local shop for other things either.

Mr Hunter, who has run Old Road News in Horton Bank Top for 22 years, said small shop owners in the city are deeply concerned about the effects of the illegal tobacco trade.

He said: “It does chip away at trade, there’s no doubt about that. Money is tight for all of us. If people don’t come in to get their cigarettes from us, then they won’t be in to buy other things linked to them like newspapers.

“Thankfully we’ve still got our staples like milk and bread that bring people in to their street shops, but nowadays we can’t rely on tobacco to bring in that kind of trade.”

A national poll of shopkeepers, commissioned by Philip Morris International, showed nine out of ten small shop owners wanted stricter penalties for those caught dealing in illegal tobacco products; four out of five thought more resources were needed in the form of money and people to enforce those penalties and half of those interviewed said it was too easy for underage smokers to get their hands on illegal cigarettes.

Mr Hunter said: “The penalties need to be more than just a fine, but people selling cigarettes in the pubs or to people they know is probably at the bottom of the run when it comes to many agencies’ priorities.

“At the ports they are more worried about stopping lorries that might have stowaways rather than those carrying illegal cigarettes.

“Lots of us traders are aware of cigarettes being sold illegally. With more and more people going off on foreign holidays it gets even worse. We notice it especially in the summer months. In the ideal world, penalties would be stricter for anyone caught selling contraband tobacco, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen.”