Issue - meetings

Applicant’s case:

The Applicant explained a key priority for his service was to protect children from harm.  In order to prevent underage sales, test purchasing was used.  He summarised the chronology of events, which was detailed in the application for the review. He showed the meeting the can of alcohol which had been purchased on 7 April 2022. 

Questions to the Applicant:

There were none.

Licence Holder’s case

Ms Bird spoke for the Licence Holder, who accepted responsibility and that the events had taken place. It was serious, but the circumstances would be explained and the steps taken since would be set out.  The premises was one of five stores operated by the Licence Holder. There were no issues in relation to the other stores, which were outside the borough, and there was deep upset and concern at what had happened. 

In the October 2021 Challenge 25 case, the staff member had suffered a bereavement shortly before, so she had not been functioning normally. This was no excuse, however.  In the April 2022 underage sale, the member of staff was new and did not know the product was alcohol.  She had only been working a few hours, was provided with further training, but now no longer worked at the store.

Steps had been taken to ensure there would not be a recurrence. It had not been possible to train the employee from October 2021 immediately afterwards because she went abroad.  She had since received refresher training after returning to the UK.  The Licence Holder referred to the certificate and signage included in appendix 3. The till system prompted for an age check, which prevented the future misinterpretation of products. It was installed in May 2022 and there had been no problems since.  All staff had received further training. The employee from October 2021 had received enhanced training, as she wanted a personal licence. The Licence Holder supported all staff who desired enhanced training.  The refusal register was checked by directors weekly, if not twice weekly. The Licence Holder wanted to be a positive influence in the community and to keep children safe.

Questions to the Licence Holder

The Licensing Officer asked how many members of staff there were. The Licence Holder said six and one of them had a personal licence.  The Licence Holder acknowledged condition 14 and apologised if this had been breached.  It was a matter for committee whether to add any new conditions, but they would be complied with. The committee could require a personal licence holder to be present at all times and further training. The Licence Holder had already taken steps without prompting.

The Chairman pointed out that the certificates in appendix 3 post-dated the underage sale and asked if there had been training previously.  The Licence Holder said there had been, but was not able to say what particular course. 

Final comments

The Applicant reiterated that a stepped approach had been taken and the review was an opportunity to protect children.

Decision

Following an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6