Illegal tobacco, cigarettes and vapes are cheap, unregulated and, it seems, flooding the high street, sold by rogue traders operating from corner shops and vape stores.

As he lights up a roll-up on a Staffordshire street with tobacco he says was bought from a rogue trader, Simon Wickes admits he has no idea what is actually in it.

"They're just scrapings from the floors of wherever they make these cigarettes and tobacco," he said.

"You could have rat poison in them. You can have rat faeces mixed in, you just don't know," he added. "It's terrible."

Despite the risks, the 54-year-old said buying cheap tobacco was a "no-brainer".

He said he suffers from a chronic respiratory condition and is addicted to cigarettes, but ultimately feels he cannot afford regulated products.

"I'm quite happy to pay £15 for a pouch of illegal tobacco," he said.

The alternative, he explained, was going to a shop and paying between £47 and £50 for a 50g pouch.

Trading Standards Officers have confirmed that, when illicit tobacco is sent off for testing, traces of rat poison have been found in some samples.

The government announced £30m in funding to boost enforcement, and plans to strengthen local authorities' powers to close illegal mini-marts and vape shops for up to a year instead of three months.

There has been a "striking increase" in reports of criminal activity linked to premises that include vape shops, mini-marts or convenience stores, according to Staffordshire's Trading Standards department.

Stoke-on-Trent resident Chris Clewes, 40, said he recently quit smoking and switched to vaping instead.

He explained that he could not afford regulated tobacco and had paid as little as £5 for a pouch of illicit tobacco.

"They aren't even tobacco. You can tell they're not, they're fake, and you can tell by having one drag of them," he said.

Clewes, who would not reveal which shops he had used in the past, said the fake products were "easy to come by if you want them".

"They don't usually have them where you are. They kind of look at you. Some people will say no, and then some people are thinking, 'all right', and then they go somewhere and come back, kind of thing."

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has closed 15 "rogue shops" in the past two years.

Labour councillor Amjid Wazir, the cabinet member for city pride and enforcement, said the problem of rogue vape and tobacco traders started bubbling up around two years ago.

He warned the illegal products posed a risk to public health.

"They are selling illegal goods to our local residents, and they are harmful to our residents and we are trying to make our residents safe in the city."

Enforcement action has stepped up in recent months.

Reform-run Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has closed five rogue shops in the past six months as part of its Operation Shutter campaign.

Meanwhile across Staffordshire in October alone, 60,000 illegal cigarettes were seized along with 40kg of tobacco and 89 illicit vapes.

Staffordshire County Council's Trading Standards manager, Tony Shore, said teaming up with borough and district councils was working to "prevent a lot of these sales going ahead".

However, he added that, given the "striking increase" in reports of criminal activity from members of the public and businesses, more powers could be needed.

"We are limited in the powers available to us. At the moment, the maximum period for which you can close a shop is three months," he explained.

"The more powers the Government can give us to prevent those sorts of shops from trading, the better chance we've got of stopping these crooks from selling this stuff."

For businesses, stronger enforcement and new powers cannot come soon enough.

Craig Skelling, who runs a pub in Burslem, said he was frustrated by the number of rogue shops appearing in the town.

He hopes the Government's plans to strengthen councils' closure powers will act as a deterrent, but believes further measures may be needed.

"You'll get a shop that gets closed down and they'll just pay the fine, they'll take the hit.

"There are a few in other towns that I know of that have been raided three or four times within a year, and they've just taken the hit, paid the fine, changed the directorship into someone else's name and carried on."

The Homes Office said it was hopeful new regulations would be introduced by the end of this year.

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