CLAMP DOWN ON VAPE KIDS

Bin on fire from battery shorting and smokers wrecking plumbing by flushing devices down loos

- PAUL DRURY AND JACKIE GRANT

COUNCILS have been urged to clamp down on vapes in schools after a Record probe unearthed mounting deadly dangers to Scotland's 800,000 pupils.

Playground puffers were blamed for wrecking the plumbing in toilets by flushing the devices down the loo.

And three months ago, as pupils were nearing the summer holidays, a school fire in the Borders was blamed on a vape's lithium battery shorting on the metal inside of a bin.

The Record has led calls for a ban on single use vapes and highlighted health concerns following the huge increase in vape use among teens.

Laura Young, a campaigner known as the vape crusader, said: "It's urgent stuff. We need to find a way of getting disposable vapes out of the hands of young people.

"I'm regularly invited to go into schools to talk about vaping.

"Teachers are really reaching out to me about this. They plead for help because they don't have any other resources available to them.

"Teachers have a hard enough job to do without being on monitoring duties making sure kids don't have vapes.

With most pupils due to return this week after the summer holidays, we discovered how the scourge of vaping is affecting classrooms and school buildings by sending a request under Environmental Information regulations to all Scotland's 32 education authorities.

By far the most serious incident uncovered was a stairwell bin fire between rooms D11 and D12 at Hawick High School in the Borders in May this year.

The incident report said: "The janitor has went to investigate the intruder alarm and has found that the bin is on fire, with flames coming from the top of it.

"He has put out the flames with water from the cleaner's cupboard next to the bin.