Telford pub boss supplied cigarettes illegally

Glenn James said he had only sold two or three packets of the cigarettes to locals when they ran out of their own cigarettes.

James, 58, of the Queen's Head, King Street, Dawley, Telford, was found to have 29 packets of foreign cigarettes and 25 packets of rolling tobacco. Another 36 packets of Mayfair cigarettes were also found at the pub were found to be counterfeit.

He admitted two charges of failing to comply with regulations on supplying tobacco products and a charge of possessing goods with a false trademark for sale.

Paul Martin, prosecuting at Telford Magistrates Court, said: "He initially denied selling the tobacco. He said he originally bought them when he was in Greece for his own use.

"Not all of them originated from Greece and Mr Jones said he bought a quantity of them from a lorry driver who has passing through the pub and sold them to customers when they asked for them."

The foreign cigarettes did not have the correct warning labels to permit them for sale in the UK and health warnings written on them were in a foreign language. The Mayfair cigarettes and a pouch of Old Holborn rolling tobacco were sent by police to Gallagher International, who own Mayfair, and they confirmed they were counterfeit.

Mike Surzyn, for the defence, said his client had been unaware they were fake and had sold only one or two packets to regulars.

Mr Surzyn said: "These packs of cigarettes were not on display, there were no test purchases.

"They were not behind the bar, nobody was saying this was a place to buy cheap cigarettes. The pub has customers who may run out of cigarettes and he would sell them a pack which sometimes they would pay for or sometimes they would just buy him a pack back."

James was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs to the local authority of £1,168.63 and a victim surcharge of £15.