Power

The Power (Pricewatch Ltd) petrol station in Old Mill Drive, Storrington has received a 12-week suspension of its licence after selling alcohol to a West Sussex Trading Standards’ child volunteer.

Trading Standards officers had previously visited the store in April to give advice after receiving reports that vapes and other age-restricted products were being sold to children.

In May a member of staff at the store sold four cans of lager to a 16-year-old child who had volunteered to take part in a test purchase operation by Trading Standards.

Peter Aston, West Sussex Trading Standards team manager, said: “Despite us having visited the store to raise concerns about underage sales, a member of staff still sold alcohol to our child volunteer.

“All licensed premises are required to have an age verification policy in place and it’s important staff are aware what are acceptable forms of identification and when it should be asked for. We strongly recommend retailers operate a ‘Challenge 25’ policy and support their staff to follow it.

“West Sussex Trading Standards has a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to the sale of alcohol to children and where we have sufficient evidence to show this has taken place, we will seek a review of the business’s alcohol licence with the aim of having the licence suspended or revoked.

“I hope this case sends out a strong message to retailers that there are serious consequences, which could put their business at risk, if they flout the law”.

In September West Sussex Trading Standards submitted an application for a licence review. The suspension of Pricewatch Ltd’s alcohol licence for the Power site and removal of the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) was determined at a meeting of Horsham District Council’s licensing sub-committee last week.

Suspension of the licence is due to come into effect just before Christmas, at which time the sale of alcohol must cease for 12 weeks.

Chris Mitchener, licensing practitioner for Pricewatch, said the member of staff involved ignored the company’s training and a till prompt. He added that the store operates a Challenge 25 policy, and staff have turned down sales and logged them in the refusals book. Since the incident all staff have received refresher training.

West Sussex County Council said Trading Standards would continue to undertake test purchasing exercises and added that eight further shops were visited recently and of those, four sold alcohol to their child volunteer