NESTLÉ is battling to stop York's iconic Polo Mints brand being used without permission to promote vaping e-liquids.

The York confectioner says it is 'taking all necessary measures' to stop the manufacture and sale of some e-liquid products which it claims infringe its trademark rights.

The Press has discovered that a number of vaping liquids are controversially being sold online as 'Polo' or 'Poloo' products.

One advert states: "Long lasting fresh breath.Poloo fresh mint," with each 'o' represented by a Polo Mint sweet.

Another states: "Sussex Vapour. Polo Mint," again with a Polo Mint sweet appearing in the advert.

The use of Polo to promote e-liquids comes amid rising concerns that flavours are encouraging teenagers to vape.

In America, the Food and Drug Administration has called the rising teenage use of e-cigarettes an 'epidemic' and ordered manufacturers to reverse the trend or risk having their flavoured vaping products removed from the market. A report last month by the University of Michigan said the use of electronic cigarettes by US teenagers has dramatically risen in 2018.

The Polo sweet has been a firm family favourite in the UK since the "mint with a hole" first rolled off the Rowntree production lines in York on April 15, 1948.

The launch was originally set for 1939 but was delayed for almost a decade because of the war.

Polos are still made at the factory in Haxby Road, which is owned nowadays by Nestlé.

A Nestlé spokeswoman said it took the misuse of its brands 'very seriously.'

She said: "We are familiar with some e-liquid products, which infringe our trademark rights and we are taking all necessary measures in collaboration with Trading Standards to stop the manufacture and sale of these products.”

She said the company was aware of a number of infringing products manufactured outside of the UK and, depending on the jurisdiction, it was possible that could make it more difficult to take action.

She added that Nestlé had worked with a number of different trading standards authorities in relation to different infringing products.

A spokesman for Sussex Vapour said it had not made 'Polo' e-liquid for four years, having stopped doing so when it had realised it might be breaching trademark rights. He said it just sold it as 'mint.'

The Press was unable to contact another, unknown business which makes the Poloo e-liquid.