Under-age sex claim about shop is dismissed – but licence suspended

An convenience shop in Upper Stratton had had its licence suspended but it was not found to have sold alcohol in exchange for under-age sexual activity, despite Wiltshire Police’s allegation.

A three-member panel of Swindon Borough Council’s licensing committee found the most serious allegation made by the force about the shop Meadowcroft Express was not supported by sufficient evidence after a lengthy hearing and discussion on Friday (September 23).

The police had asked the panel to review the licence for the convenience store and off-licence held by Chintan Shah.

Officers said the shop has a history of selling alcohol, tobacco and vape products to children. And its evidence also alluded to a suggestion that youngsters were performing sex acts in exchange for the ability to buy drink.

Mr Shah denied that and while the panel did find that the shop was selling alcohol, tobacco and vapes to children, it did not see evidence of any sexual exploitation.

The report after the hearing and the panel’s deliberations said: “The panel did not find that the premises had been used for the commissioning of any sexual offences however there was an acceptance by Mr Shah that a previous employee may have asked for a telephone number from a potentially underage person but this member of staff was dismissed.

However, it added: “The panel determined that it had doubts as to Mr Shah’s evidence as he stated that during the period in question he only employed the person mentioned above (being a male) yet the evidence shows that the sale of the vape products to the underage persons was carried out by a female.”

The panel was critical of Mr Shah for allowing the shop to sell drink and smoking and vaping products to children. It said: “The panel was also concerned that, despite having received notification of concerns from Trading Standards in March 2022 seemingly little progress had been made to address the concerns. The criminal activities of supplying alcohol and vape products to underage persons is serious. Furthermore, this represents a clear failure to protect children from harm.”

Chairman of the panel Cllr Vinay Manro said: “The panel considered cases from the police, trading standards and the licensee holder. With some of the evidence presented the panel had to make a decision to uphold licensing legislation. In particular the protection of children from harm and the prevention of crime and disorder.

“The panel has suspended the premises license for three months and applied conditions which must be implemented and maintained ongoing.  The business owner and licensee will need to demonstrate a change in their operational arrangements to avoid a further review of their license.

“The three month suspension gives the licensee the opportunity to make these changes and I hope they take these on board.”

The licence was suspended for three months and conditions applied for the return of the licence. Some of those conditions were suggested by Mr Shah himself, which convinced the panel revoking the licence was not necessary.

Conditions include the installation of CCTV, a “challenge 25” policy to be put in place where anyone appearing under 25 will be asked for proper identification and a refusal book to be kept, where every attempt by those under-age to buy  products forbidden to them is noted.

The CCTV and appropriate systems and training must be put in place within three months for the licence to be returned.