Wellingborough shop licence revoked after £50,000 of illicit tobacco found

Thousands of packs of cigarettes and pouches of tobacco were found by Northants Police in the Euro Market store, also known as ‘Delicje Polskie’ at 1, Church Street, during an inspection in September.

North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) licensing sub-committee heard on today (Tuesday, October 22) that large quantities of tobacco without the relevant UK tax-paid markings were found in a store room and stashed under the counter near the till.

A Trading Standards spokesman for the police said that 2,519 packs and 624 pouches of illicit tobacco were found, which would amount to £56,500 of goods.

NNC agreed to an interim suspension of the shop’s licence at the end of September and, according to the council, the shop’s shutters have remained closed since then.

The premises licence holder Dilshad Mohammad Kadir told the panel, through a friend who was translating over the phone, that he was not aware of the illegal tobacco being sold in his shop.

He first said that he had not been in the shop, or Wellingborough at all, in the past two months before the incident happened. When pressed for an exact date he was last there, he then said he had not been since before May.

PC David Bryan said he found it hard to believe Mr Kadir’s representation due to the fact that he gave several dates for when he last visited the store and was involved with its running. The trading standards officer asked for the licence to be revoked.

Chairing the meeting, Cllr Jonathan Ekins reflected: “It’s not whether the licence holder was in the premises at the time or whether the licence holder was in the premises a week, two months or six months prior. The premises licence holder is responsible for everything that goes on in a licensed premises by law.”

He said whether Mr Kadir was there in person was ‘irrelevant’ because it didn’t absolve him of his duty of responsibility for what is sold on his premises.

Issuing his decision, Cllr Ekins added that over the course of the meeting the license holder had ‘failed’ to convince the panel that he had a full understanding of the licensable objectives. He said they had no other choice but to revoke the shop’s licence in full.

Officers told Mr Kadir that he will have the option to appeal the ruling if he wishes.