Windsor c-store's licence to sell alcohol revoked

A convenience shop in Windsor, Castle News and Wine, has lost its licence to sell alcohol for repeatedly selling drink and vapes to underage customers.

According to local reports, councillors said the owner Tagtar Singh Lakman had shown ‘"no regard for the rules" and had been "unable to manage his staff responsibly".

Thames Valley Police and licensing officers at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead asked a panel of councillors to revoke Castle News and Wine’s licence after several incidents.

Police say that in May 2022 a 15-year-old girl bought vodka from the shop using fake ID then jumped into the Thames and had to be rescued.

A police report says, “The young girl got very drunk on the vodka and jumped into the River Thames. It was felt that if the member of the public had not jumped into the river to save her, she may not be here now.”

The police had already received reports of underage customers being served in the weeks before the incident. And in June 2022 an off-duty officer found 13-year-old children outside the shop laughing about how they had been served alcohol.

Police decided to strengthen the shop’s licence, making it mandatory for CCTV to cover the till area, and for police to be able to download footage.

But police continued to receive reports of underage children being served, and of crimes outside the shop. Staff claimed they were unable to download the CCTV footage on more than one occasion.

In April this year a 16-year-old girl bought vodka from the shop apparently using a fake ID, then fell unconscious after drinking it and had to be taken to hospital.

When police officers asked a staff member to show them footage of the sale, he kept skipping past the relevant time. Footage eventually showed the staff member had not examined the teenager’s ID. Licensing officers supported the police, adding that they also found several illegal vapes for sale there during inspections in December 2022 and August 2023.

Lakman's lawyer suggested that councillors instead agree to replace him as the designated licence supervisor with someone who had passed a higher level three DPS course.

But councillors agreed that they had "no faith" that this would stop underage customers being served from the shop. They voted unanimously to revoke the licence at a panel hearing on July 23.