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Booze breaches a result of ‘laziness’
Off-licence given second chance as owner blames ‘lapses’ on staff and defends his training
AN OFF-LICENCE caught selling booze to under-age drinkers blamed it on “laziness” when its owner was called before a licensing panel.
The Late Late Store in Belsize Lane, Belsize Park, was called to a hearing at the Town Hall last Wednesday after the police called for a review of its licence.
This came after the shop failed three test purchases by police cadets – all under 18 – who were able to buy bottles of Smirnoff Ice, and a separate incident involving a drunk man.
Staff were in the process of selling him four cans of Extra Strength Strongbow cider when a licensing officer stepped in to remind them it was illegal.
Barrister Nick Walton, representing Late Late owner Sajid Ali, said staff were well trained by his client but were transient by nature and unreliable.
Responding to questions from Lib Dem councillor Ben Rawlings – who asked why, if the training was “adequate,” were there “four clear breaches of the licensing law” – Mr Walton said: “I would call them lapses and I would call it probably laziness.”
Police decided to ask for conditions to be added to Mr Ali’s licence rather than calling for it to be revoked in order to give him another chance.
But Cllr Rawlings expressed concerns at the meeting that Mr Ali did not understand how serious the breaches were.
He told the business owner: “Many of the reassurances you’ve given sounded like excuses for failures to uphold the law. The duty of a licensee is to meet the law and the licensing objectives.”
Cllr Rawlings called on the shop to write a training manual every year for staff and to send a copy to the council and see if there are any flaws in the wording.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Ali said the case “was just based on what the police claim” and warned that the councillors on the panel had no experience of running a small business. |
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