In the UK, the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes has
increased substantially over recent years [3,10], with 1.3
million people estimated to use them in 2013 [11]. A
survey in 2013 found that two thirds of 11-18 year olds
had heard of e-cigarettes, and that 5% of those who had
heard of them had tried them [12]. E-cigarettes are expected
to be regulated in the UK through European legislation
by 2016 and a ban on sales to under 18s is
expected to precede this in England [13,14]. At present,
however, they are governed only through general product
safety regulations with no specific sale or marketing
restrictions. Trading Standards is the body responsible
for enforcing regulations on the sale of consumer goods
in the UK, including sales of age-restricted products. To
inform their work in North West England, Trading
Standards run biennial school surveys on alcohol and
tobacco-related behaviours among 14-17 year old students,
with the legal purchase age for both these substances
being 18 years. With growing concerns around
the exposure of children to unregulated e-cigarettes, a
question was added to the 2013 survey asking students if
they had ever bought or tried e-cigarettes. This question
offers the opportunity to identify levels of e-cigarettes
access among children under 18 years and the characteristics
of those that are most likely to be accessing them;
with preventing child access to e-cigarettes being a key
focus of legislative approaches to e-cigarettes not only in
the UK but internationally. Thus, here we explore associations
between e-cigarette access, student demographics,
and their patterns of tobacco and alcohol use.