Outwood store which sold illegal tobacco loses licence for “total disregard” for law

Councillors said the owner of Top Shelf store, in Outwood, Wakefield, had shown a “total disregard” for licensing laws.

A Wakefield Council licensing panel was shown CCTV footage of illegal hand rolling tobacco and cigarettes being sold to customers at the premises on Leeds Road.

PC Toby Warden told the hearing how officers carried out a routine visit to the store on August 21 and immediately became suspicious as a member of staff appeared “really nervous”.

Customers inside the shop also quickly left without buying anything when they saw the officers.

PC Warden said the premises were searched and two large shopping bags containing 500 packets of rolling tobacco were found.

Cigarettes were also discovered that were in “colourful” packaging.

The officer explained that all cigarettes sold in England had to have dark packaging and contain a prominent health warning.

The items were seized along with the hard drive from the shop’s CCTV system.

Panel members were shown some of the footage, including a clip of a man entering the store carrying bulging shopping bags similar to those which contained the tobacco.

The tobacco was sent away for testing and found to have been produced for the duty free market.

PC Warden said it should not have been on sale at the store.

Officers made a follow-up visit to the shop on October 26 and found that the CCTV system was not working and a number of other licensing conditions were not being complied with.

The recording equipment was still not in operation when they returned on November 28.

On that occasion officers also found vapes on sale which were “well over” the legal nicotine limit.

A test purchase officer from Trading Standards went to the premises on December 9 and was sold a packet of Richmond cigarettes for £5.

PC Warden said the usual retail price was around £16.

Officers returned again on December 13 with a tobacco detection dog and seized more illegal items.

PC Warden urged the panel to consider revoking the store’s licence, adding: “There has been no respect for the licensing objectives.”

Paul Dean, an enforcement officer with the council’s anti-social behaviour unit, said the store’s licence holder, Dana Sqieq Abdullah, was contacted over the licence breaches.

The officer said Mr Abdullah denied involvement in any of the incidents and claimed he had sold the business to the store’s designated premises supervisor.

Mr Dean said the local authority had not received any documentation requesting a licence transfer.

He said: “He (Mr Abdullah) must take full responsibility for the items sold in his shop which he has clear control of.”

Mr Abdullah did not attend the hearing and no one appeared to speak on his behalf.