Issue - meetings

Report of the Interim Monitoring Officer/ Legal Services Manager attached.

The Panel met to determine a review of premises application in respect of S & D Convenience Store (Leyland Lane, Leyland PR25 1XL) pursuant to the provisions of S52 of the Licensing Act 2003. The application had been brought for review by the Council’s Head of Licensing, Mark Marshall on behalf of the Licensing Authority as a Responsible Authority.

Representations had also made by one other Responsible Authority, Lancashire Constabulary, although no representative was present at the hearing.

The Premises Licence Holder (PLH) who was also the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS), Mr Sumitkumal Patel was in attendance.

The Licensing Officer, Chris Ward, presented the Committee report and confirmed that all notice and procedural requirements had been adhered to. The process in respect of the hearing was also outlined by the Chair.

The Licensing Authority were of the view that the licensing objectives had been undermined, these being the prevention of crime and disorder and the protection of children from harm. The Licensing Officer provided that there was a number of issues which had raised concern, those being lack of proof of age records and refusal log, a failed test purchase, poor management of the premises and a breach of the conditions of the licence.

The Head of Licensing explained that during a routine visit on the 3 April 2019 licensing officers found that the store had been taken over by new owners some months previously, however the licence had not been transferred into the new owner’s name. Officers spoke to the owner’s wife who advised that the licence would be transferred by the end of the week.  Two further calls were made to the new owners of the business to follow up on the transfer of the licence. Due to no response, officer’s hand delivered a letter outlining the concerns of the Licensing Authority. As a result of the letter, the licence was transferred and the position of DPS into Mr Patel’s name on the 22 May 2019.

The panel heard that following concerns raised by the Police on 5 July 2019 a licensing officer attended the premises. Mrs Patel was running the store and was unable to provide any evidence that staff had been trained or evidence of any refusal of sales to underage customers when asked. A verbal warning was given about the breaches disclosed and Mr Patel was given 7 days to rectify the issues.

On 23 July 2019 officers visited the premises to follow up on the 5 July visit and to check the issues had been resolved. Records of staff training were produced to officers by Mr Patel for all the staff he advised worked at the premises. Mr Patel explained to officers that the refusal process was done manually through the till, which printed a void transaction receipt for employees to complete by hand. Mr Marshall advised the panel that the system was overly complex for staff to follow and that it would be easy to forget to log the tear slips or to print  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6