Agenda and minutes

Licensing Sub-Committee - Friday, 10th September, 2021 10.00 am

Venue: Committee Room 5 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Liz Penny  01895 250636 or Email: epenny@hillingdon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

21.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

22.

Declarations of interest in matters coming before this meeting

Minutes:

None.

23.

To confirm that the items of business marked Part I will be considered in Public and items marked Part II will be considered in Private

Minutes:

It was confirmed that all items of business were marked Part I and would be considered in public.

24.

Matters that have been notified in advance or urgent

Minutes:

None.

25.

Application for a Review of a Premises Licence: Spend N Save, Hayes pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

NTRODUCTION

 

Mark McDermott, Licensing Officer, introduced the application for a review of a Premises Licence in respect of Spend N Save, 242 Yeading Lane, Hayes UB4 9AX. Members were informed that Spend N Save operated as a convenience store and off licence.

 

It was confirmed that the application to review the licence had been submitted by the London Borough of Hillingdon’s Trading Standards Service on 16 July 2021 following the seizure of a quantity of illegal tobacco, Sildenafil Citrate (Viagra) and cream chargers (Nitrous Oxide) at the premises. Given the failure to uphold the Prevention of Crime and Disorder licensing objective, it was recommended that the Licensing Sub-Committee revoke the licence as requested by the Trading Standards Service.

 

The Licence Holder’s Legal Representative, Mr Leo Charalambides of Counsel, claimed that there was an inaccuracy in the agenda pack papers as the illegal goods had not been found at the premises but had been located in a van parked to the rear of the premises. 

 

THE APPLICANT

 

Kiran Seyan of Trading Standards addressed the Sub-Committee confirming that an application for the review of a Premises Licence for Spend N Save had been submitted by Trading Standards due to concerns regarding the premises’ failure to uphold the Prevention of Crime and Disorder licensing objective. Members heard that following intelligence received, Trading Standards, accompanied by tobacco detection dogs, had attended the premises on 29 September 2020 to conduct an inspection visit.

 

At the time of the visit, Mr Gurnam Langani (Manager at the time and a former Director of the company) had been working at the till assisted by Gurpreet Kaur. Mrs Gurpreet Kaur Lowgani had not been present during the visit. The tobacco detection dogs had picked up a scent emanating from a van parked at the rear of the premises. Mr Langani had indicated that the van belonged to a charity and had nothing to do with the business. The keys to the van had subsequently been found hanging at the rear shop door. Inside the van a significant amount of tobacco and other products had been found. Mr Sarbjit Singh Lowgani had subsequently attended the premises and confirmed it was his van. Mr Lowgani had claimed that the tobacco had been given to him by an itinerant trade and was not to be sold.

 

Mr Lowgani had been reminded that, on a previous visit in March 2019, he had been issued a written warning following the seizure of cigarettes. He acknowledged that the warning had been issued to him.

 

Members heard that, on 29 September 2020, 9180 cigarettes, 3370g of hand-rolling tobacco, 2653.5g of oral tobacco, 110 tablets of Viagra and 576 cream chargers (Nitrous Oxide) had been seized. All these products had been found in the aforementioned van.

 

It was noted that, when conducting inspection visits, Trading Standards had found that illicit goods were often stored elsewhere rather than on the premises themselves, for example in a flat above, in a lock up unit or, in this case,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.