Sutton store which sold knives, illegal vapes and counterfeit cigarettes to children has licence revoked

Buy & Save,on High Street, Stanton Hill, was issued with a three-month closure order at Mansfield Magistrates' Court in December, after a large knife was sold to a child and two machetes were found behind the counter.

And now Ashfield Council has revoked its licence after the store admitted to “substantial failings”.

The decision follows a series of visits from Nottinghamshire Police, Trading Standards and council licensing teams between late 2021 and November last year.

A licensing hearing heard machetes and other knives had been sold to teenagers alongside the sale of illegal, counterfeit cigarettes and alcohol products and ‘non-compliant’ vapes – disposable e-cigarettes with more than 600 puffs which are not allowed to be sold in UK shops.

Across two separate visits to the shop, police say more than 1,500 of these items were found inside, while during test visits, age-restricted products were sold by the shop to children.

Emma Heath-Tilford, Nottinghamshire Police’s prosecuting solicitor, told the hearing the force had “no confidence” in the shop’s management.

She said: “The reason for a licence revocation over anything else is because of the severity of the combination of all these things.

“They show a lack of management, a lack of control and a lack of respect for the rules.

“Do you really want premises in Ashfield being managed in that way, when they can sell alcohol to children?

“There are clear examples in this of children being able to buy alcohol, buy vapes, buy knives, and all of that undermines the licensing objectives.”

The meeting also heard there was a lack of staff training at the shop, an absence of a ‘Challenge 25’ identification policy and CCTV was not being stored correctly.

Legal representative Simon King, speaking on behalf of business owner Ravidu Waduge, urged councillors to consider a three-month suspension of the licence and said his client accepted there had been failings, which he wanted to address.

Mr King said: “We have no intention of arguing or contesting any of the allegations.

“Mr Waduge accepts his management of these premises has been inadequate and there have been serious and substantial failings.

“The closure order was not contested and nor does he contest the licence should be reviewed.

“He hopes to open the property at the end of the closure period.”

However, the police believed this was not enough.

Ms Heath-Tilford said: “You can see efforts made by licensing, police, and trading standards and none of those have worked.

“Why would a suspension of three months be any different? The property is closed for another two months, which means it would only take away the licence for about a month.”

Councillors agreed with the police’s case and opted to revoke the shop’s alcohol licence.

Reading the panel’s verdict, a council spokeswoman said: “The decision taken today is to revoke the premises licence.

“Councillors considered licensing objectives had been seriously undermined by the way it has been run.

“There have been numerous opportunities to address the issues but they haven’t been taken.”