Keighley shop sells alcohol to a child

On the 22^nd August 2024, Mr Payman Bahrami from Keighley appeared at Kirklees Magistrates Court regarding the sale of  two 330ml cans of AU Vodka Soda with an ABV of 5% to a child under the age of 18. The drinks were sold from European Food, 46-48 North Street, Keighley, BD21 3SE. Mr Bahrami is also the Director of European Food (Keighley) Ltd who operate the store. Mr Bahrami pleaded guilty, in his capacity as Director of the Limited company, to committing the offence under the Licensing Act 2003 and also pleaded guilty on behalf of the company itself. Mr Bahrami as Director was fined £553, which was reduced in light of his early guilty plea, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £221 and costs of £400. European Food (Keighley) Ltd was fined £1000, with a victim surcharge of £400 and ordered to pay costs of £2002. 

Also in court was the shop worker on the till, Mr Milad Karimi, who pleaded guilty to the sale of the alcohol and put forward mitigation that in the previous month he had been burgled and his mind was not on the job. Mr Karimi was fined £120 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £48. 

The case was launched after West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service (WYTSS) received complaints about the premises selling alcohol to underage children. In August 2023 a 15-year-old volunteer entered the shop, under the supervision of a Trading Standards Officer, and asked to buy the two cans of AU Vodka Soda. They were able to buy an AU Vodka Black Grape Soda and a AU Vodka Blue Raspberry Soda cans for £6.00 without being challenged about their age or asked for any form of ID by the seller. It is an offence to sell alcohol to a person under the age of 18.

Mr Bahrani and Mr Karimi were both  interviewed later. During the interview Mr Karimi admitted to the sale of the alcohol and that it was a mistake. He added that he had received training and received regular reminders not to sell age restricted products to persons under the age of 18. Mr Bahrami stated that he had trained his staff but kept no written evidence of the training given or when the training had been given. Also that no refusals log is kept by the business even though they are regularly visited by children attempting to purchase age restricted products.

David Strover, Head of Trading Standards (Business Services) said, “we wrote to this business to make them aware of a complaint we had received and informed them a test purchase may follow.  Off licence proprietors need to ensure they ask for identification for all customers who look under 25, as we do make regular test purchases to investigate complaints about underage sales from members of the public.”

Councillor Sue Duffy,  Deputy Chair of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee which oversees the work of Trading Standards said “ it is clearly irresponsible not to check the age of teenage customers wanting to purchase age restricted goods. Test purchases are undertaken regularly by trading standards staff to ensure shops adhere to the law on vapes, tobacco and alcohol sales. The simple task of asking for identification and verifying the age of younger customers will help to reduce underage alcohol and tobacco use.” 

Consumers wishing to report illegal trading practices, including the sale of age restricted goods to children can call  the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline  on 0808 223 1133 to report their concerns  -  this can be done anonymously.