Up to 80% of petrol stations, corner shops, supermarkets and half of pharmacies could be flouting laws restricting the number of paracetamol that can be sold, research suggested yesterday.

Legislation aimed at cutting suicide rates means the painkillers should not be sold in larger packs than 32 in chemists, and 16 tablets in other outlets. But a study published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal, of 107 people who turned up at a south London A&E department after attempting an overdose, found that almost half of the patients who had set out to buy paracetamol were able to buy more than one packet.