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 is maintained in the premises.

The Chair advised that the Sub Committee would at 3.30pm adjourn to consider the evidence presented. Members reconvened at 3.40pm. The Chair reported that;

Having heard representations from the Metropolitan Police, the Trading Standards Officer and the Premises Licence Holder, Members decided to SUSPEND the licence for a period of one weekend following receipt of the decision notice and to MODIFY the conditions on the licence by imposing further conditions as listed below.  Both actions were in order to further the licensing objective of preventing crime and disorder.

Members had regard to the amount of non-duty paid wine 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 an under age sale in April 2010 which had been dealt with by way of a written warning). 

They therefore decided that a period of suspension was necessary to promote the relevant licensing objective, in view of the seriousness of the problem in Tower Hamlets and in order to deter similar incidence of crime.  A short period of suspension would be proportionate to the seriousness of the situation. 

The Premise Licence Holder and Trading Standards Officer suggested that further conditions be imposed.  Members considered that the conditions listed below were necessary for the prevention of similar incidence of illegal activity at the premises in future. 

RESOLVED

That the review application for Parnell Mini Market, 117a Parnell Road, London E3 2RT, be GRANTED with the suspension of the sale of alcohol license for a period of one weekend following receipt of the decision notice and 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.