Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from WSCC Public Health and Sussex Police.

The procedure the Licensing Panelwillfollowin considering the application is set outin the Licensing Act2003,its attendantRegulations and was agreed by the Licensing Committee on 2nd February2005.  The Licensing Panel,in accordance with rule 14 of the Licensing Act2003 (Hearings)Regulations 2005 decide to exclude the public fromallorpartof the hearing where the Licensing Panelconsiders thatitis in the public interestto do so.

None.

Introduction and outline of the report

Jon Bryant, Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report to determine an application submitted by West Sussex Trading Standards to review a Premises Licence of Londis Mini Supermarket, 65 Lingfield Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 2EU.  The review related to the Prevention of Crime and Disorder and the Protection of Children from Harm.

The application to review the licence, pursuant to Section 51 Licensing Act follows the sale of underage products, the sale of alcohol to a child during a test purchase conducted by West Sussex Trading Standards on 8th February 2023, noting enquiries were made into the incident. Submissions from Responsible Authorities, in support of the review had also been received from Sussex Police and WSCC Public Health.

The Panel were asked to determine the application on the evidence presented at the hearing having regard to the Licensing Act 2003, MSDC Licensing Policy and the Home Office Guidance issued under Section 182 Licensing Act 2003.

The Senior Licensing Officer advised Londis (Anishs) Mini Supermarket, of 65 Lingfield Road have been licenced for the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises since November 2014,  under Licence Number PWA0494.  The partners of the supermarket are Manjulaben Ambarish Patel, Ambarish Ambalal Patel, Bharat Chaturbhai Patel, and Pinky Bharat Patel.  The Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) at the time of the incident in the review application was Mrs Manjulaben Patel, however the DPS changed to Mrs Pinky Bharat Patel on 22 February 2023.  The Officer noted the  licensed hours and additional conditions on the current licence, Challenge 25, staff training, and the operation of a refusals log were detailed in the report. 

The review was requested as during a test purchase, organised by Trading Standards on 8th February 2023 a child was sold alcohol. Staff at Londis Supermarket were also made aware of the sale of age restricted vapes to children during an advice visit to the store in August 2022, where Trading Standards gave advice to Mr Bharat C Patel on the sale of age-restricted products.   Bharat Patel then sold alcohol to a child on 8th February 2023, he claimed he had been distracted whilst serving the customer due to receiving a large energy bill.  At the time there were no written records of staff training as it was done verbally.

Trading Standards advised they believed there is a failure to continually uphold the Licensing Objectives, the management do not promote the Licensing Objectives and a review of the licence could limit further criminal activity, and act as a deterrent for other licence holders considering illegal activities.  As advice on the sale of underage products had been given before the sale to the underage customer, Trading Standards suggested a three-month suspension of the Premises Licence.  Full details of their representation were listed in Appendix 4.

The representation by Sussex Police  in Appendix 5 advised they supported the request for a review on the same grounds as Trading Standards and their request for a three-month suspension of  ...  view the full minutes text for item LS.3