Cigarette vending machine ban comes in to force in Northern Ireland

As of March 2012 cigarettes will no longer be sold in vending machines in Northern Ireland (NI) in a bid to limit children and young people's access to unsupervised tobacco sales.

Edwin Poots, NI Health Minister said: 'The main aim in introducing the legislation is to prevent children and young people from being able to access tobacco from a largely unsupervised source'.

Currently, there are over 1 800 cigarette vending machines in NI and according to a 2010 survey, 14% of Northern Irish smokers aged between 11 and 16, vending...