Shirley shop Select Xpress in trouble after children bought vodka and became so ill they called an ambulance

Solihull councillors will decide next week whether to revoke the licence of Select Xpress in Shirley.

A council report said Pc Luke Prescott applied to review the licence of the Stratford Road shop on April 29.

In his application the officer said: “On April 14 a 14-year-old female and her 15-year-old friend were able to purchase a bottle of vodka from the premises and no age verification checks were carried out by the member of staff.”

The application said the alcohol was sold at 5.20pm and the pair drank it near to the premises, but the 14-year-old “got into difficulty”.

The officer wrote: “So much so that her 15-year-old friend called for an ambulance and a paramedic had to attend to deal with the child that had become unwell due to their consumption of alcohol.

“The child was returned home and cared for by her parents, the matter was also reported to the police.”

Officers went to Select Xpress and asked to view the CCTV but the shop worker was unable to operate it, which Pc Prescott said was a breach of its licence.

He said: “I asked the shop worker if she knew what the challenge 25 scheme was, she replied ‘no’ – again this is a breach.”

The officer said he spoke with licence holder Arul Stephen Mariathasan.

“He informed me he was in Turkey and had sold the business last year,” Pc Prescott said.

“I asked him if he had notified the licensing authority of the transfer of the premises licence and asked to be removed as a designated premises supervisor (DPS) – he said he would sort it out with the person he had sold the business to.”

The officer said he then told staff they were no longer permitted to sell alcohol until a new DPS was put in place and confirmed by the local authority.

“I also asked them to withdraw all alcohol from sale as it cannot be left on display as they had no authority to make any sales,” PC Prescott said in the report.

“There are serious concerns around both the operation and ownership of this premises that need to be established before the premises can sell alcohol lawfully.”

The premises licence is set to be reviewed at a meeting of Solihull Council’s licensing act panel.

The options available to the panel are:

• To do nothing
• Add new, amend or remove existing conditions on the licence
• Restrict or amend licensable activities or authorised timings of the activities on the licence
• Remove the DPS
• Suspend the licence for a period of up to three months
• Revoke the licence

The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Civic Suite on Thursday, June 19.