Store owner fined for underage cider sale
Civic Offices
A city store owner has been fined after a 15-year-old girl was sold six cans of cider at her store.
Sivasakthy Kirubarajah, the owner and license holder of Bradville Post Office & Stores situated in Bradville, admitted selling alcohol to a child under the age of 18, when she appeared before Milton Keynes Magistrates Court on Friday.
She pleaded guilty to the offence under the Licensing Act 2003, following a successful test purchasing operation carried out by Milton Keynes Council’s trading standard department and the police.
In September 2011, following intelligence received, under cover trading standards officers, accompanied by Thames Valley Police, visited a number of licensed premises with a child volunteer.
Whilst other premises successfully refused to sell alcohol to the child volunteer, an untrained person who had been left unsupervised at the store, sold six cans of cider to the child volunteer.
Mrs Kirubarajah was fined £180 and ordered to pay costs of £765.04 in full, after the court heard she had previously received advice from trading standards officers on under age sales but had not implemented this advice.
Milton Keynes Council’s Head of Trading Standards, Karen Ford said: “Under age drinking is a serious issue and the law is there to protect those under 18 from harm. This sends a clear message that trading standards will where necessary use the powers available under the Licensing Act 2003 to ensure that the age limits for purchasing alcohol are observed.”
If you are a Milton Keynes business looking for advice, you can contact Trading Standards’ Business One Stop Service on 01908 252818. This service is chargeable but free to all Milton Keynes businesses approved under the Buy With Confidence scheme.
If you would like to be kept up to date with what is going on in Milton Keynes then like us or follow us: find us at www.facebook.com/tradingstandards or on twitter @MiltonKeynesTS.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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