No minor matter: Sting smokes out Whittlesea shopowners

EIGHT shopowners have been fined for selling cigarettes to minors.

Whittlesea council’s manager of health services, Neville Kurth, said an undercover operation using supervised minors visited 45 shops between July and December 2011.

Eight retailers sold cigarettes without asking the customer for proof of age as required under the Tobacco Act.

Repeat offences could mean loss of licence to sell tobacco products.