A BLACKBURN company at the forefront of the £90 million e-cigarette boom has been instrumental in creating a new voluntary code for the industry.

Thousands of people, including celebrities like Lily Allen and Cara Delevingne, vape — one of the new tobacco-free ways to help people give up smoking.

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Now Liam Humberstone, of Blackburn’s Totally Wicked, has helped create a new nationally recognised standard to ensure customers get the best-quality product possible.

Fraser Cropper, managing director of Totally Wicked, said: “I am proud that Totally Wicked was involved. We work in a market that is occasionally exposed for the actions of a few rather irresponsible businesses and individuals, and one of the best ways to counter this is to demonstrate that there is a quorum of businesses that are willing to standardise responsible good practice.”

He said the development of the PAS 54115 standard for e-cigarettes and e-liquid manufacturers, importers and distributors is an important milestone for the industry.

Mr Cropper said: “This is is a very important milestone in the maturity of the UK vaping sector, because it was written and developed not by politicians but by people who understand consumer safety and vaping. It looks nothing like some of the poorly thought out legislation that is currently being implemented under article 20 of the Tobacco Products Directive.

“The standards are not going to be easy to meet, nor should they be.”

Cllr Damian Talbot (Mill Hill) praised the firm, saying: “It is good to see they are keen on improving standards and that they are leading the work on that.”

Totally Wicked, in Stancliffe Street, was launched in 2008.

The new guidance is for those involved in the manufacturing, importing, labelling and marketing of e-liquid and vaping devices, including those without nicotine.