‘Magnet for crime’ shop in booze ban
LICENCE REVOKED AFTER CUSTOMERS COMPLAINED OF INTIMIDATION AND FIGHTING
A NEWSAGENTS which became ‘a magnet for crime and disorder’ has been stopped from selling alcohol.
Angry customers complained of daily intimidation, harassment and fighting as gangs of young people and drink and drug addicts gathered outside the Premier Convenience Store, Hankinson Way, Pendleton.
At a licensing committee hearing, Salford council revoked the supermarket’s alcohol licence, listing a catalogue of incidents reported at the shop, including:
A customer who was chased into the store by a gang begged staff to call police but was thrown back outside by a shop employee with help from one of his attackers;
CCTV footage of the incident was wiped;
Staff were seen selling single cans of high-strength alcohol and single cigarettes to young people;
On one occasion high-strength alcohol was sold to a drug user who had injected heroin outside the shop and gone in with a tourniquet still visible on his arm.
A council spokesman said the shop was ‘a magnet for crime and disorder.’
Coun David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said: “We heard report after report from people and the police of the problems the poor management and practices of this store were causing on a daily basis but the licence-holder denied all responsibility.
“He even backed the actions of his staff over the appalling way they treated a man being attacked by a group last September. Instead of calling the police the staff member told the victim to leave and then encouraged the attackers to come into the shop to remove the victim.
“Police say there is evidence that the victim was clinging to shelves to prevent being thrown outside to his attackers and was assaulted inside the shop but the shop keeper helped one of the attackers to forcefully throw him back outside to the group.
“Police officers were told on the day that the member of staff had no access to the CCTV footage. When they went back three days later the licence holder had wiped the footage earlier that day as the hard drive was full.
“He denied being aware that the police wanted the footage, even though he knew a serious incident had occurred and defended the actions of his employee, claiming he was trying to remove someone who had been banned from the shop and a member of the public helped.”
Last month the store’s owner was prosecuted at Manchester magistrates court for food safety offences.
When environmental health officers visited they found nibbled Kit Kats, chewed bags of crisps and sandwiches more than a month out of date on sale.
The property was infested with mice which had started eating the food, putting the public at risk of salmonella, a court heard.
At the time Atif Ashraf, 31, owner of the store, pleaded guilty to a series of environmental health offences. He was fined £1,280 and ordered to pay £1,027 in costs. Mr Ashraf told the court the offences happened while he was away in Saudi Arabia and the manager of the shop was away.
The M.E.N. has approached Premier Store for comment on the loss of their alcohol licence.