Bo'ness shop loses licence after selling vodka to 13-year-old

A Bo’ness shop has lost its licence to sell alcohol for three months after its owner was caught selling booze to teenagers.

Members of Falkirk Council’s licensing board heard on Wednesday that CCTV footage of two separate incidents at Hillcrest Store had shown the owner selling vodka to a 13-year-old girl, then wine, vodka, WKD and Four Loco to a 17-year-old.

The review of the licence of the shop at 26 Hillcrest, Bo’ness, was made jointly by Police Scotland and Falkirk Council’s licensing department.

The board heard that the council’s licensing team had received an email, last September, alleging that children were being sold alcohol at the store, which had been recently taken over by Mr and Mrs Patel.

Investigating, the team heard a “clear allegation” that on Monday, September 18, 2023, alcohol had been sold to a 13-year-old.

Checking the CCTV, investigators saw footage of the teenager being sold vapes and a half bottle of vodka by the owner, Ritesh Patel, who did not see any ID at the time.

Police Scotland were informed and the shop was monitored closely from November 12, 2023 to January 12, 2024.

However, when responding to an unrelated incident on January 31, police officers reviewing CCTV noticed a girl who they knew to be 17 years old buying alcohol, again without being asked for ID.

The footage from January 26 showed the teenager buying two 70cl bottles of WKD, two 440ml cans of Four Loko, one bottle of wine and one 20cl bottle of Smirnoff Vodka.

Both offences were reported to the Procurator Fiscal, but the case was not taken to court.

When questioned why this might be, Police Sergeant Bellingham said he could not speak on behalf of the court but he understood that both witnesses were reluctant to go to court and any case was unlikely to succeed without their evidence.

Mr and Mrs Patel’s agent told the board the shopkeeper is “deeply sorry” for what was “a genuine human error”.

She said Mr Patel insisted both customers had previously shown them ID “which, we now know, must have been fraudulent”.

She added that the couple had invested a lot of time and money in the business and believed they were making a difference to the community.

“They are truly devastated to find themselves in this position today,” she said.

She added that at the time of the second incident the Patels were experiencing “significant anti-social behaviour and harassment towards them” from a group of youths.

Mr Patel, she said, was “under severe stress” and was distracted at the time.

However, he insisted he had seen the ID on previous occasions, although he now realises it was fake.

Deputy convener of the licensing board, Councillor Bryan Deakin, said the board had found there were grounds for reviewing the premises licence, held by Patel Retail Ltd, and Mr Patel’s personal licence.

The shop had failed to operate a Challenge 25 policy and had not observed a condition that ID must be checked every time alcohol is purchased by a customer who looks under the age of 25.

The three-month suspension will run from Monday, October 28 until Tuesday, January 28, 2025.