Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Link: watch meeting

Items
No. Item

12.

Election of Chair

To appoint a Chair for the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Radley was elected Chair for the meeting.

13.

Introductions and Procedures

Those present to introduce themselves and the Chair to outline the procedure for the meeting.

Minutes:

Those present introudced themselves and the Chair outlined the procedure to be followed for the meeting.

14.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

Minutes:

Councillor Radley declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4 (Application/Discliplinary Matter). This was because a close relatively currently worked for Trading Standards. However, the family member had no involvement in the case.

15.

Application/Disciplinary Matter pdf icon PDF 103 KB

Purpose of Report

 

For members to consider an application to review an existing Premises Licence in respect of WAG 3, 38 Bristol Road, Gloucester, GL1 5SD.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Licensing Officer’s Report 

The Licensing officer presented the report, the purpose of which was for members to consider an application to review an existing Premises Licence in respect of WAG 3, 38 Bristol Road, Gloucester, GL1 5SD. 

 

The Licensing Officer highlighted a typographical error in section 4.5 of the officer report. 

 

This section should have read: 

  

“The issues identified which impact on the prevention of crime and disorder are: 

  Underage sales of age restricted products and the supply of illegal vapes and failing to provide CCTV.” 

 

All parties were notified prior to the meeting about the typographical error. 

 

No clarity was requested on the report of the Licensing Officer by the representative of  the Licence Holder nor the Trading Standards Officer’s. 

 

Statement of Gloucestershire County Council’s Senior Trading Standards Officer

 

The Senior Trading Standard Officer noted that the store was situated between an Indian restaurant and a cafe in a popular residential area and that complaints about the store began in Summer 2023 following a suspension of the Licence in July 2021. She noted that under the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Person Regulations) 2015, made it illegal to sell nicotine to anyone under 18, and that there were fines up to £2,500 per offence. She said that tobacco regulations required that health warnings covered 30% of the front and back area of packaging and that failure to comply potentially could result in up to 3 months imprisonment and an unlimited fine. She further highlighted that NHS stated that vapes should not be available to children.  

 

She said that on the 29th of July 2021, the store licence was suspended for a period of 21 days after a review, that was decided by a previous Licensing Sub Committee. She said that in July 2023, Trading Standards received reports from the police and members of the public that illegal vapes were being sold at the store and were regularly sold to children. She highlighted the following instances that had occurred since.  

 

·       19th July 2023. A Trading Standards Officer purchased a VapSoloKing 10,000 Puff Vape which was illegal owing to excessive tank size.

·       25th July 2023. An inspection found 476 non-compliant vapes which were seized. The Licence Holder further refused to provide the CCTV and said that the van that delivered the Vapes did not park in view of the camera so would not have appeared on the recording. 

·       23rd August 2023. A test purchase was carried out. A 15-year-old volunteer was refused on the test purchase. However, a Trading Standards Officer identified further illegal vapes for sale in the premises.

·       25th September 2023. 221 illegal vapes were seized. A written warning was provided to the premises holder. 

  • 25th October 2023. An officerprovided information about which vapes were legal to sell, following advice being sought by the store owner.  
  • 13th December 2023. Trading Standards received a complaint from a concerned parent, whose daughterhad allegedly purchased vapes and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.