A shop in Ealing has had its license suspended for three months after selling alcohol to a child.

St Johns Mini Mart on Mattock Lane were found to have breached licensing conditions after selling a beer to a 'visibly underage' 15-year-old.

On Wednesday, August 21, licensing officers attended the store for a regular licensing inspection with a male volunteer, 15. The licensing officer entered the premises with the boy following shortly after.

Council officers noted the man behind the counter did not lift his head once upon their entry. Once the boy paid for his beer he left, having not been challenged about his age once. The officers then returned to the premises with the evidence to inform the employee he had just sold alcohol to a child.

Licensing Officer Robert Dear said: "You just sold this bottle of alcohol to a 15-and-a-half-year-old male", cautioning him about the offence. To his astonishment, the employee replied "No, it was £1.59", before going on to say he is only covering the shop. It was later found that the staff member had received no licensing training.

Despite this breach, the staff member who sold the beer to a child was kept on at the shop for another two months after the offence. However, he has now allegedly been fired.

It was then revealed the shop had also failed to meet a number of other licensing conditions including having two staff members at the premises at all times, and a lockable shutter on the alcohol cabinet.

Committee members pressed the licensing holder Didar Singh Arora on these issues. When asked why this was the case Mr Arora told the committee they were working on getting a lockable shutter.

Mr Arora went on to say that usually there would only be one person in the store when he or his father went home to have dinner. He explained it is financially difficult to have any other staff at the moment.

Officer Robert Dear was requesting a full revocation of the license, however councillors felt a three month suspension was sufficient for Mr Arora to train his staff properly and ensure all licensing objectives are being followed.