Sutton Coldfield shop ‘sold fake wine’

Police have called for managers of a Sutton Coldfield shop to be stripped of an alcohol licence after allegedly being caught selling fake wine.

A Birmingham City Council licensing sub-committee on 8 February heard Trading Standards officers found 41 bottles of counterfeit wine at KVK Supermarket in Eachelhurst Road, Walmley.

The meeting heard Trading Standards were called by a member of the public who had purchased six bottles of Yellow Tail wine from the Nisa store in November.

Three of the bottles “had different colour liquid inside and did not taste the same as the others”, and Casella Brands, the owner of Yellow Tail, confirmed these were counterfeit, the meeting heard.

Trading Standards visited the shop on two occasions and seized bottles of Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz bottles bearing the Yellow Tail label which were confirmed to be fake.

The meeting heard the person in charge of the shop had initially said the items were bought from Bookers cash and carry in Warwick, but officers were “unable to reconcile” items listed on the receipt with the items seized.

Another member of the public contacted Casella to say their bottles of wine did not taste right, and the manufacturer confirmed these too were counterfeit.

Explaining the possible origins of the fake wine, papers to councillors from Trading Standards state: “It would appear that this is a large-scale operation, (probably originating abroad) using organised crime gangs in the UK to distribute and sell the products.”

The meeting heard lab analysis showed the wine was not unsafe to drink – but that this was likely to be in order to “prolong the scam”.

Chris Jones of West Midlands Police said: “The alcohol could not have been bought legitimately, could not have been bought from a cash and carry.

“The only way this alcohol could have been bought is off the back of a lorry with a white van man.

“The premises didn’t know if this was fit for public consumption – they wouldn’t have had a clue.

“The only thing they were worried about in my opinion was buying cheap alcohol, selling it at full retail price, making as much money as humanly possible.

“West Midlands Police would suggest due to the facts in front of you that the licence be revoked.”

Martin Williams, of Birmingham City Council’s Trading Standards team, told the meeting: “What is concerning, particularly to us and Yellow Tail, is that if people buy a product and […] say to their partner ‘this is no longer any good – I don’t want you to buy this any more’ – the damage it does to the brand, when people don’t even realise it is because it is a counterfeit product, can be untold really.”

He added it was an “isolated event in Birmingham” but said: “There were some bottles found in Dudley and there appear to be bottles found in different parts of the country – some were in the South and some were in the North.”

Kuladevi Thavarasa, licence holder at the shop, said staff at the shop had bought the wines from a delivery man while she was isolating and preparing for her mother’s funeral – and that she and the staff did not know they were counterfeit.

She said: “I sincerely apologise for this one incident or mistake – the first and last, only time.”