A newsagent, who sold alcohol to an underage customer, has had his licence to sell drinks suspended for three months.
The council’s licensing sub-committee heard that an assistant at Saba newsagents in Rice Lane, Walton, sold six bottles of lager to a 16-year-old in a test purchase arranged by the Alcohol and Tobacco unit,.
The premises supervisor Neguib Saleh had previously been ordered to adopt a Challenge 21 age verification policy after the shop has failed underage test purchases for alcohol
The committee head that the shop had also sold cigarettes to underage customers on a previous occasion
Mr Saleh told the committee he had been let down by his staff and he would be prepared to pay for training by the Alcohol and Tobacco Unit for himself and his staff in the Challenge 21 procedure.
The sub-committee gave serious consideration about revoking the shop’s licence to sell alcohol, but decided to give Mr Saleh an opportunity to show he understood the need to comply fully with his duties as premises licence holder and suspended his licence for three months.
