Agenda item

Members:  Councillor P Crathorne (Chair), D Brown and C Hampson.

The Committee considered a report of the Senior Licensing Officer regarding an application for the review of a Premises Licence in respect of Khan’s Foodstore, 25-27 West Road, Annfield Plain (for copy see file of Minutes).

A copy of the application and supporting documentation had been circulated to Members, together with additional information received from the Licence Holder’s Licensing Consultant.

Laura Brooks of DCC Trading Standards, the Applicant was invited to address the Sub-Committee. Ms Brookes advised that in March 2018 Trading Standards had received intelligence from Durham Constabulary that the premises was possibly selling alcohol to young people under the age of eighteen, and were increasingly concerned about anti-social behaviour in the area

As part of an Operation with the Police, two test purchases had been carried out at the premises on 13 December 2018 and 21 December 2018, details of which were included in the report bundle. The premises failed both test purchases. A visit was made to the premises on 15 January 2019 to discuss the circumstances of the two underage test purchases with Mr Khan, and it was noted that there was no refusals register or any training records. At that time the business did not present steps that would promote the licensing objective ‘protection of children from harm’.

However, since the visit Mr Khan had demonstrated a commitment to uphold the licensing objectives and the proposed additional conditions would achieve this. Mr Khan had been working with Mr Robson, Licensing Consultant and all staff had received training. Trading Standards had conducted a further visit to the premises the day before the hearing and now had confidence that the business would have no difficulty in promoting the licensing objectives.  

The person who made the sales on both test purchases was no longer working in the premises. It had also come to light that Mr Khan intended to spend time out of the country over the next few months and had indicated that application would be made for a member of staff to take over as DPS.

In conclusion Ms Brooks asked the Sub-Committee to consider the proposed additional conditions as an appropriate means of dealing with the application.

PCSO Michelle Williamson of Durham Constabulary was invited to address the Sub-Committee. The Officer stated that she supported the review application and had been part of the Operation, attending the premises on 21 December 2018 with a colleague. She confirmed that a Fixed Penalty Notice had been issued to the member of staff.

Mr Sean Barry of Public Health referred to the letter of representation in the report bundle and had nothing further to add other than to emphasise the health risks to children when alcohol was available to them, both in terms of their physical development and behaviour. He supported the proposed additional conditions.

Mr Tim Robson addressed the Sub-Committee on behalf of the Licence Holder. He advised that Mr Khan did a lot of charity work and had been unable to attend the original hearing date as he had been out of the country.

Mr Khan acknowledged that the sale of alcohol to underage people was totally unacceptable and would not be tolerated. Mr Robson assured Members that he had done his utmost to ensure that all persons working in the premises would not undermine the licensing objectives. All members of staff had been trained, including in the sale of age restricted products, dealing with intoxicated customers, Challenge 25 (which had been implemented) and identifying fake ID.  A strict and solid underage sales policy had been implemented to ensure that refusals and challenges were recorded in a register. All staff had passed the accredited examination.

In view of Mr Khan’s charity work out of the country he had agreed to amend the DPS. The proposed DPS had spent five hours in a training environment to assess her suitability, and would be taking the DPS course this week, after  which she would apply for her Personal Licence. An application would then be submitted to vary the DPS.

With the premises he had done everything possible to ensure that alcohol sales were carried out in a responsible manner and training would continue.   A policy and procedure manual had been included in the additional bundle. Mr Khan was willing to accept the additional conditions proposed.

Mr Khan stated that he had held a licence for 36 years and in that time there had been no issues. The member of staff who made the underage sales had made a mistake and there had been no underage sales prior to that.

All parties were invited to sum up. None had anything further to add.

Councillor Hicks stated that he was pleased to see the steps taken by the premises as this was a very serious matter.

At 12.55pm the Sub-Committee Resolved to retire to deliberate the application in private. After re-convening at 13.05pm the Chair delivered the Sub-Committee’s decision.

In reaching their decision the Sub-Committee had considered the report of the Senior Licensing Officer and additional information from the Licence Holder, and the verbal and written representations of the Licence Holder and his representative, the Applicant and Responsible Authorities. Members had also taken into account the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and Section 182 Guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

Resolved:

That the following conditions be added to the Premises Licence:

The Prevention of Crime and Disorder

·         CCTV footage must be available and downloaded upon request by a Responsible Authority.

·         All incidents occurring at the premises will be recorded in an Incident Book maintained by the Premises Licence Holder or a nominated member of staff. The details which will be recorded in the Incident Book are: the time and date of the incident, the name or full description of any person(s) involved (including staff members), whether the incident was recorded on CCTV, and the signature of the person making the entry. This book will be available at all times for inspection by the Police and other Responsible Authorities upon request.

·         Persons known to be, or suspected to be, buying alcohol or tobacco on behalf of children will be refused and reported to the Police.

The Protection of Children from Harm

·         Adherence to the law surrounding the ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco to those under 18.

·         The operation of a documented Age Certification Policy (Challenge 25) where all patrons believed to be under the age of 25 who seek to purchase age restricted goods will be asked to provide proof of age in the form of a UK Driving Licence, Passport, Military ID card or photo identification which is endorsed with the government PASS holographic logo.

·         A refusals register must be in place at the premises and used to keep a record of all attempted test purchases of alcohol and tobacco where a person believed to be under 25 is challenged and no identification is provided and the sale is therefore refused.

·         The refusals register should record: the date and time of the refusal, a description of the young person refused, the goods asked for, any significant comments made or behaviours exhibited by the person and the signature of the person making the entry.

·         The register should be checked for completion and signed off on a regular basis by the DPS or Premises Licence Holder. The refusal register must be kept available at all times for inspection by the Police and other Responsible Authorities upon request.

·         Persons known to be or suspected of buying on behalf of children will be refused and reported to the Police.

·         Notices to be displayed concerning the law surrounding the ban on the sale of alcohol to children and explaining the Challenge 25 scheme.

·         All staff to receive full training on the law surrounding the sale of age restricted products and the operation of the Challenge 25 scheme. Regular reminders to staff as to their obligations with respect to the above.

·         All staff training records and reminders to be put in writing and kept as a record of training which must be kept on the premises and be available at all times for inspection by the Police and other Responsible Authorities on request.