Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Amy Baker, Health Improvement Officer, Public Health, and Sgt Steph Reynolds, West Midlands Police.

There were no declarations of interest.

An application for a Review of a Premises Licence in respect of Transilvania Shop, 67 Merridale Street West, Wolverhampton, WV3 0RJ, had been received from Trading Standards.

The Chair led round-table introductions and outlined the procedure to be followed.

Michelle James, Licensing Policy Manager, provided an outline of the application. Paul Dosanjh, Service Lead, Trading Standards (applicant), confirmed that the summary was accurate.

The Chair invited Trading Standards to present their application. Paul Dosanjh, Service Lead, did so as per Appendix 3 of the report.

The Chair afforded all parties present the opportunity to question the applicant in relation to his submission. Paul Dosanjh, Service Lead, provided responses to questions asked.

The Chair invited Miss Mihaela Adriana Epuran, Premises Licence Holder, to make representations. Miss Mihaela Adriana Epuran stated the following:

·         She had not understood the warning in 2016 as she had been on holiday;

·         She had purchased illicit cigarettes from car boots and sold them from the premises;

·         She had not sought to make money from the cigarettes directly, but it was to encourage customers to make further purchases once in the premises;

·         The shop had been robbed at knifepoint which had lost her staff and made the business harder to run;

·         She was sorry for her conduct.

The Chair afforded all parties present the opportunity to question the Premises Licence Holder in relation to her submission. Miss Mihaela Adriana Epuran, Premises Licence Holder, provided responses to questions asked.

The Chair invited the Licensing Authority to make representations. Mrs Elaine Moreton did so as per Appendix 5 of the report.

The Chair invited all parties present to question the Licensing Authority in relation to its submission. Mrs Moreton provided responses to questions asked.

The Chair invited Public Health to make representations. Parpinder Singh did so as per Appendix 6 of the report.

The Chair invited all parties present to question Public Health in relation to its submission. Parpinder Singh provided responses to questions asked.

The Chair invited all parties present to make their final address.

Paul Dosanjh, Trading Standards, made a closing statement.

All interested parties, with the exception of the Solicitor and the Democratic Services Officers, withdrew from the meeting to enable the Sub-Committee to determine the matter.

All interested parties were invited back to the meeting and the Chair advised them of the decision of the Sub-Committee, which was read out in full by the Solicitor.

Resolved:

Members of the Statutory Licensing Sub-Committee had considered all written evidence and listened carefully to all representations made by persons who had spoken at the hearing. They had considered all the evidence presented and had found the following facts:

They heard from the applicant that:

1.    On 16 November 2016, following two separate receipts of intelligence that illicit cigarettes and tobacco were being sold from the premises (the subject of this review), Trading Standards visited the premises, accompanied by a Tobacco search dog. During the visit, Trading Standards officers discovered and seized a large quantity of counterfeit and non-duty paid  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.