Councillors To Review Shop Alcohol Licence After Girl Admitted To Hospital

Councillors are set to review the licence of a Hastings convenience store, which allegedly sold alcohol to children. 

On Tuesday (July 30), a Hastings Borough Council licensing panel is set to review the premises licence of a convenience store at 7 to 8 Harold Place.

The hearing has been called in response to an application from East Sussex Trading Standards, which alleges the store has been involved in the sale of alcohol to those under the age of 18.

In its application, trading standards said two 14-year-old girls had allegedly been able to purchase three bottles of vodka from the store on November 4, 2023. One of these girls later became ill and was admitted to hospital, the officers said.

Trading standards say its officers visited the premises later the same month, after receiving a formal complaint from one of the girl’s mothers. By the time of their visit, on November 23, footage from the date of the alleged sales was no longer kept on the store’s CCTV system. 

During this visit, trading standards officers say they discovered and seized 28 “over-capacity illegal vapes” from the store.

Trading standards officers say they visited the store for a second time in April, conducting a “test sale” by an underage volunteer. Officers said this volunteer, aged 14, was witnessed buying a can of lager from a woman who was later identified as Vandana Alpeshkumar Vekariya. 

In the application, the officers say they were told that Mrs Vekariya was not an employee of the store and had been covering the till while her husband took in a delivery. 

Officers go on to say Mrs Vekariya had not been authorised to sell alcohol by the store’s Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) Jashuben Hirji Hirani. This is notable as the conditions of the store’s licence requires all alcohol sales to be made by “authorised persons” who hold personal licences. 

Trading standards says its officers have interviewed Mrs Hirani and her husband Hirji Shivji Hirani about the incident under caution. At time of publication, the couple are the sole directors of NK & Family Limited — the company which holds the store’s premises licence. 

While trading standards has called on councillors to review the store’s premises licence, the public body has not explicitly called for the licence to be revoked.

However, the application has also prompted correspondence from East Sussex County Council’s public health department. In it a spokesman for the county council argued the licence should either be revoked or have ‘strong restrictions’ placed on it.

The spokesman said:

“The World Health Organisation identifies accessibility and availability as key factors relating to increased consumption and alcohol-related harm for all persons including those under 18.

“Should a licence not be revoked or have restrictions placed on it, children and young people, like the individual involved in this incidence, will likely continue to have access to alcohol that is sold underage. 

“Furthermore, it is vital to have a deterrence against selling underage alcohol and we must ensure that the four licensing objectives are obeyed to safeguard children and young people from alcohol harm. 

“If we do not take a strong approach to underage sales, then licence owners will, intentionally or unintentionally, continue as they are and more young people will experience harm.”

Councillors will have several options available to them after hearing from the interested parties. They will be able alter the terms and conditions of the licence, remove the DPS, suspend the licence or even revoke it entirely. They will also have the option to take no action at all. 

The licence holder has a right of appeal to the Magistrates Court against any decisions made by councillors, however.