The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, ensured that introductions were made and then briefly outlined the procedure of the meeting.  

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Aminur Khan for whom Councillor Kabir Ahmed substituted for. 

To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992.  See attached note from the Chief Executive.

Councillor Rajib Ahmed declared a personal interest in agenda item 4.1, application for a review of the premises licence for Teviot Food and Wine, 173 – 175 Teviot Street, London E14 6PY on the basis that the premises was in his ward, however he confirmed that he had not had any discussions regarding this application prior to the hearing.

To note the rules of procedure which are attached for information.

The Rules of Procedures were noted.

At the request of the Chair, Ms Kathy Driver, Acting Principal Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a review of the premises license for Teviot Food and Wine, 173 – 175 Teviot Street, London E14 6PY. It was noted that the review had been triggered by the Metropolitan Police. 

At the request of the Chair, Mr Andy Jackson explained that the review related to a series of operations run jointly with Police, Trading Standards and HRMC Customs. It was noted that certain off licences were identified following a review of intelligence from all three agencies. The premise was visited on 21^st April 2010, on entry to the premises, a total of 89.6 litres (128 bottles) of mixed spirits were found, which displayed counterfeit duty stamps. Further examination of the wine on sale revealed that there were 305 bottles (228.75 litres) of mixed wine which were non duty paid, these were then seized. There had been no receipts produced for the goods at the time the goods were seized and nor within the 28 day period. It was noted that the goods seized amounted to total duty evaded of £1512.62.

Mr Jackson referred Members to the DCMS guidance which stated that the sale of smuggled tobacco and alcohol should be treated particularly seriously. Due to the large amount of goods found, he urged members to revoke the license in this instance in order to send a powerful message to the premises and to all other off licenses in the area.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Nick Arron, Legal Representative for the Premise License Holder, presented the Sub Committee with some receipts for the purchase of alcohol, he explained that the premises was a well run business where large quantities are sold. Mr Arron explained that the alcohol was purchased in good faith legitimately form wholesalers. It was noted that the quantities of wine were also brought legitimately from MDD Trading wholesalers. He explained that from the 89.6 litres of spirits, 56 litres have receipts which show that these were brought from the wholesalers, however the remaining 35.6 litres of sprits were left over from a family wedding which was held on 20^th October 2007, where large quantities were purchased for the wedding and the remaining bottles were stored at the shop, not on the shop premise but in the store room.

Mr Arron then referred to supporting documents, which highlighted the Premises License Holder’s good character, his responsible attitude and his award for bravery. It was noted that he had been trading since 1984, he had helped the Police on many occasions, by obtaining a number of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders within the area, and in 1991 he was held at gun point and shot at the shop for which he was awarded a Gallantry Award from the Police for his bravery.

Mr Arron suggested some amendments to the conditions set out in page 83 of the agenda from Trading Standards.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

Having considered the letter dated 6 September 2010 from Stainforth Solicitors on behalf of the licence holder, and the accompanying evidence, members decided that it was necessary in the public interest to ADJOURN the review application for consideration on 30 September 2010.

At the request of the Chair, Ms Kathy Driver, Acting Principal Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a review of the premises license for Parnell Mini Market, 117a Parnell Road, London E3 2RT. It was noted that the review had been triggered by the Metropolitan Police. 

At the request of the Chair, Mr Andy Jackson, Metropolitan Police explained that the review related to a series of operations run jointly between the Police, Trading Standards and Customs & Excises. It was noted that Parnell Mini Market was visited on 21^st April 2010 and on entry to the premise, a total of 77.25 litres (103 bottles) of non duty paid mixed wine were found on the premises these were then seized. There had been no receipts produced for the goods at the time of seizure to prove that they were brought from a wholesaler. The owners were given 28 days to produce the receipts for the goods seized, however this period have expired and the receipts have not yet been produced.

It was noted that the goods seized amounted to a total duty evaded of £173.76. Mr Jackson referred Members to the DCMS guidance which stated that the sale of smuggled tobacco and alcohol should be treated particularly seriously. In this instance where there had been a smaller amount of smuggled goods, a suspension of the licence was sought and the length of suspension was to be decided by the Sub Committee in order to send a powerful message to the premises and to all other off licenses in the area.

Mr Ian Moseley, Trading Standards stated that there had been one incident of underage sale of alcohol and a written warning had been issued. He also suggested possible conditions set out in his representation.

At the request of the Chair, Ms Bee Hamid, Counsel, presented on behalf of the Premises License Holder, Ms Rizwana Miah, she explained that Ms Miah was not aware that the goods were counterfeit. She then referred Members to the statement from Ms Miah, which explained that she was very remorseful, that she always purchased from wholesalers and that the seller had mislead her into buying these goods which were thought to be legitimate and was told that the receipt book had run out and would be brought back the next day with a receipt for the goods, unfortunately the seller did not return and Ms Miah did not think of taking down sellers car details at the time.

Ms Hamid asked the Sub-Committee not to suspend the license but to impose conditions to promote the licensing objectives, she explained that Ms Miah regrets what happened and is currently running her business at a loss, and if her license is suspended this would highly impact on her business financially.

Inresponse to questions it was confirmed that Ms Miah had been trading for over two years and not had any previous complaints prior to this and that a refusal book  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.3

At the request of the Chair, Ms Kathy Driver, Acting Principal Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a review of the premises license for Montana & Co, 101 Burdett Road, London E3 4JN. It was noted that the review had been triggered by the Metropolitan Police. 

At the request of the Chair, Mr Andy Jackson explained that he had been produced with some receipts by the Premises License Holder which was for the appropriate time period and amount of alcohol which were seized. He therefore suggested that conditions, those which were suggested by Trading Standards be imposed in order to deter such incidents possibly occurring in the future.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Caner Akin, Premise License Holder apologised for not bringing these receipts earlier, however stated that his Accountant had sent a letter together with these receipts to HRMC Customs a couple of weeks after the seizure in April 2010, as the receipts were with the accountant at the time of seizure. At this point the Sub Committee were shown the letter and receipts.

In response to questions it was confirmed that the letter and receipts were sent by the Accountant a couple of weeks after the seizure. The police accepted these receipts however was disappointed that these had not been produced sooner.

The Chair advised that the Sub Committee would at 3.55pm adjourn to consider the evidence presented. Members reconvened at 4.05pm. The Chair reported that;

Having heard representations from the Metropolitan Police, the Trading Standards Officer and the Premise Licence Holder, Members decided to MODIFY the conditions on the licence by imposing further conditions as listed below, in order to further the licensing objective of preventing crime and disorder.

Members had regard to the relatively small amounts of non-duty paid wine and spirits that had been found on the premises, and the sums that had been lost to the revenue.  They had regard to the statutory guidance which provides that the sale of smuggled tobacco and alcohol should be treated “particularly seriously” when reviewing a licence (paragraph 11.26). 

They also had regard to the fact that this appeared to be the first case of illegal activity at the premises (save for the presence of a small quantity of counterfeit condoms in August 2009) which had been dealt with by way of a written warning). 

Members were conscious that it was not their role to determine the guilt or innocence of any individual.  Nevertheless, they were of the view that the premise licence holder in this case had not been guilty of any intentional wrong doing in respect of the wines at least.  They had regard to the fact that the responsible authorities were no longer seeking suspension of the licence. 

Members were concerned about the presence of non-duty paid alcohol at the premises and considered that it was necessary in order to promote the relevant licensing objective that further conditions should be imposed on the licence.  This would help to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.4