Wolverhampton shop that sold vodka to 13-year-old has licence suspended

The Saver Express in Finchfield was also found to have more than 150 illegal vapes on the premises.

Licensing bosses at Wolverhampton Council this week told owner Rajinder Singh that he must spend the suspension period conducting robust training of all staff in upholding the four licensing objectives. A number of conditions were also added to the licence.

Trading Standards conducted an organised underage sales test purchase exercise at the shop, in Finchfield Road West, on November 25 last year.

In a statement to the committee, Trading Standards officer Gurdip Gill said: “Two underage authorised child volunteers, one of whom was 13 years old and the other who was 16, went into the shop on behalf of the council and were able to buy a disposable Elfbar Mango Flavour 600 puffs nicotine vape and a 250ml can of Sminoff Vodka and Cola with an ABV of 5 per cent.

“There was no challenge in relation to their age from the sales assistant. After leaving, the volunteers handed the age-restricted products they had been sold to Trading Standards. An officer spoke to the member of staff behind the counter, and she was informed that she had just sold age-restricted products to children under 18.

“When contacted, Rajinder Singh admitted he knew the vapes were illegal and agreed to voluntarily surrender them for destruction. Officers also found that no premises licence was on display.

"A trader’s notice was issued to Rajinder Singh on behalf of the business, and as the named premises licence holder (PLH), Sonia Kaur was deemed to have breached the licensing objectives of ‘the prevention of crime and disorder’ and ‘the protection of children from harm’.”

The statutory licensing sub-committee also listened to representations from licensing bosses, Public Health and West Midlands Police who all expressed concerns. Before suspending the licence, members noted that PLH Ms Kaur had a long history of running businesses with no previous issues.