A roofer has vowed to take legal action against a vape shop in County Durham over claims an e-cigarette left him with a collapsed lung.
Alex Gittins, 31, is calling for Easi-Vape on Bishop Auckland’s Newgate Street to be permanently closed and has hired a lawyer to fight his case.
He claims a vape he bought from the high street shop put him in hospital and saw him forced to undergo multiple operations.
The roofer’s injuries have in turn seen him sign off from work, meaning he is now suffering financially due to the nature of his job as a self-employed roofer.
A spokesperson for Easi-Vape confirmed a lawyer had contacted the shop but said there is ‘no evidence’ its vapes caused Mr Gittins’ health condition.
Alex Gittins, 31, (pictured) is calling for Easi-Vape on Bishop Auckland’s Newgate Street to be closed over claims an e-cigarette he bought from them caused him to suffer a collapsed lung
The shop’s spokesperson instead claimed all the products Easi-Vape sells are legal and approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Mr Gittins, who is expecting a child in September, said: ‘My major concern is that this could have happened to kids.
‘So many of them are running round smoking vapes and yet the government is doing nothing to get them banned.
‘You know what a fag does to you; you don’t know what a vape does. Something’s not right – kids could die.’
Mr Gittins, from Bishop Auckland, says he been buying disposable vapes from the shop for four months.
He was paying £20 for six disposable vapes, and had smoked several without any issue.
But, as he was puffing on a vape on May 25, he claimed he realised something was wrong.
Mr Gittins said: ‘I started smoking it when it suddenly didn’t create the mist properly. There was a horrible taste in my throat.
‘Then five or ten minutes later I was stood there and breathing in, but it felt like I had a massive stitch.
‘It started getting worst over the next hour.’
The roofer was driving back from work in Leeds when he began to feel serious pain in his chest
Alex Gittins, 31, (pictured) was forced to undergo multiple operations after his right lung collapsed
He took himself to a walk-in centre in Hartlepool – where he was instructed to go to nearest hospital.
He went to A&E in Darlington, where his breathing continuing to deteriorate.
And when a doctor examined him he was given shocking news: his right lung had collapsed.
He was transferred to a respiratory ward to reinflate his lung.
But what is normally a routine procedure failed and his lung was continuing to leak fluid.
Doctors attempted to the remove the fluid using suction, but after two days, fluid was still in his lung and it had yet to reinflate.
Mr Gittins was then taken by ambulance for emergency surgery in Middlesbrough on 2 June.
Surgeons removed a piece of his lung before stapling it back together, and then inflated it on June 5.
Doctors kept him on the ward until June 9, when he was discharged.
Mr Gittins is continuing to have weekly check-ups but still struggles to fully catch his breath.
And he has been discharged from his work for the next month.
Mr Gittins is adamant that it was the vape, bought from Easi-Vape, which hospitalised him.
He claims NHS staff told him they are seeing more and more incidents where people are hospitalised from vapes.
Alex Gittins has undergone multiple operations and continues to struggle with his breathing
Mr Gittins is in contact with a lawyer who is now working on a case.
He also reported the shop to Trading Standards three weeks ago, he says.
Mr Gittin’s partner is expecting a baby on September 12.
Due to being self-employed, he is worried they will have to survive solely on her income from her job at Specsavers.
Easi-Vape confirmed that it had been in contact with a lawyer representing Mr Gittin’s case.
A spokesperson said: ‘Durham council been out to see us. All of our products have an MHRA number on them and are totally legal.
‘Alex can do what he likes, there’s no evidence that our vapes caused what happened to him.
‘The customer in question has been smoking for the last 15 yeas, we don’t know what he wants but we’ve got all our evidence.’
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