Staff at a Hemel Hempstead shop could face prosecution after selling cigarettes to a young teenager.
Trading Standards sent a 15 year old volunteer into the shop last month as part of a county-wide sting operation.
And staff inside the store, which is not being named by Trading Standards, sold the youth cigarettes – which since October 2007 cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 18.
A spokesman for Trading Standards, a division of Hertfordshire County Council, said officers were now investigating the incident and the employees could face an £80 fine or even legal action.
"We might consider prosecution," he said.
A total of 48 shops across Herts were targeted by Trading Standards during the five-day operation in February.
Out of the 32 visited licensed premises, six sold to under-age volunteers – of the 16 shops visited, three sold cigarettes to the volunteers.
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