Swansea Council seized more illegal vapes by value than any other council in the UK in the first year of the disposable vape ban, according to new Freedom of Information data.
Prohibited vaping products worth an estimated £470,000 were taken out of the city’s shops between June 2025 and May 2026, the figures show.
The data, obtained and analysed by Northerner, an online nicotine product retailer, puts Swansea ahead of Westminster (£201,688) and Manchester (£185,250) on the value of products seized.
By volume, Swansea Council seized 47,200 illegal items over the year, the sixth highest of any UK council, with every one found in vape shops or convenience stores.
Across the UK, more than 1.3 million illegal or non-compliant vaping products have been seized since disposable vapes were banned in June 2025, with Bolton (250,023 items) and Hull (204,252) recording the biggest hauls.
A table-topping seizure figure can be read two ways: as a measure of how much illegal product is circulating, or of how hard a council is going after it.
Swansea’s record points at the second. The city’s Trading Standards team has been running a rolling crackdown, closing nine shops in a single 2025 operation and shutting one Pontarddulais vape shop three times in under a year.
The council’s Trading Standards team leader Rhys Harries said in June that intelligence-gathering was continuing and there would be more closures this year.
A separate analysis in June ranked Swansea fifth in the UK for illegal vape seizures, painting a consistent picture of a city near the top of the national tables.
The contrast within Wales is striking: Torfaen recorded just 77 seized items over the same period and Cardiff 100, both among the ten lowest totals of any UK council.
Dr Marina Murphy, senior director of external affairs at Northerner, which has a commercial interest in the regulated nicotine market, said the findings showed the limits of prohibition. “When the legal market closes a door, the black market often opens a window,” she said.
She argued that prohibition without effective enforcement risks shifting supply from regulated businesses to criminals, and called for stronger licensing checks on businesses seeking to sell nicotine products.
Disposable vapes were banned across the UK from 1 June 2025, with retailers barred from selling single-use devices.
The figures land as Westminster moves to double the maximum length of closure orders from six to 12 months, giving councils and police longer to keep premises linked to illegal trading shut while they investigate.
Swansea Council was approached for comment.
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