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 prevent crime and disorder associated with the sale of counterfeit and non-duty paid items on the premises in the future. 

RESOLVED

That the review application for Montana & Co, 101 Burdett Road, London E3 4JN, be GRANTED with the following conditions;

Conditions

1)     The premises licence holder and any other persons responsible for the purchase of stock shall not purchase any goods from door-to-door sellers unless a valid receipt is supplied at the time of the purchase.

2)     If stock is purchased from a door-to-door seller the premises licence holder shall ensure that a record is kept of the seller’s vehicle registration number.  

3)     The premises licence holder shall ensure that all receipts for goods bought include the following details:

a.      Seller’s name and address

b.      Seller’s company details, if applicable

c.      Seller’s VAT details, if applicable

4)     Copies of the documents referred to in 3) shall be made available to officers on request.

5)     An appropriate device for checking the authenticity of duty stamps (such as an ultra-violet lamp) shall be installed on the premises and retained in working order.

6)     The authenticity of the duty stamp on any goods shall be checked on receipt of those goods.

7)     The premises licence holder shall inform the police in the event that they are sold counterfeit goods or goods with a fake duty stamp.