A mini-supermarket has been fined £4,000 by magistrates after Croydon Council prosecuted the store for selling alcohol to a child during a test purchase.
At Croydon Magistrates Court VP and Sons Ltd, who trade as Ellalan Supermarket, in London Road, admitted selling a Smirnoff vodka and cola mixed drink to a person under 18 years of age.
The council’s trading standards service regularly carries out test purchasing exercises at shops in the borough to ensure that businesses are complying with the law and that ages are being verified by sellers, in order to safeguard children from buying age-restricted goods.
The magistrates on 30 October found that there was no attempt by the member of staff at Ellalan Supermarket to establish the child’s age during the test purchase on 15 February, and there had been a failure to police sales.
They also found that no training had been given to the sales assistant on selling alcohol to children and that a letter warning about upcoming test purchases in the area had been ignored.
“This is an incredibly serious offence and I would like to thank our trading standards team on their successful prosecution. Protecting children and young people from the dangers of age-prohibited items means making Croydon a safer and healthier place for us all to live.
“We will continue to work with businesses to advise them on their legal obligations, but as a council we cannot tolerate irresponsible and dangerous trading.”
Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon
For more information on how to prevent making underage sales for retailers, please visit the council website. If you have information about the sale of age-restricted items such as alcohol, knives, vapes or cigarettes in Croydon, please report it via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.
