In Coventry every complaint or enquiry we receive is logged so that we can keep a track of the problem areas or traders. When considering the action to take we will look at the type and severity of the complaint, together with the previous history of the trader involved.
Our Public Safety and Housing Enforcement policy [/pshepolicy] sets out what businesses can expect from us.
Examples of enforcement actions
Some examples are as follows:
- No action - used where there is not enough evidence, but details will be recorded.
- Advice/verbal warnings - used to address minor problems where traders have perhaps been unaware that they were breaking the law, or that their trading practices could be improved upon. It is a way of working with traders to avoid similar problems in the future and is particularly available to those local traders who approach the Department.
- Warning letter - used when the offence is not serious enough for formal action, but it is recorded that the trader was officially warned about the matter. Such warnings are taken into account should the trader re-offend.
- Forfeiture - Voluntary surrender of offending articles accompanied by advice or written warning.
- Enforcement order - we can seek Court Orders under the Enterprise Act 2002 against businesses who break certain consumer protection laws and who act in a way that puts public rights at risk. However, before taking action the trader will be invited to respond to the allegations against them, and we will work with them in an attempt to bring their work up to standard. The trader will also be able to give binding commitments (undertakings) instead of going to court.
- Formal caution - used in situations where there is enough evidence to support a prosecution and the person has admitted the offence but there are strong mitigating circumstances. A caution is not a conviction but it is an admission of the offence. There is no court case but the Caution is formally recorded and will be taken into consideration should they re-offend.
- Penalty notices for disorder - we issue such notices with regard to underage sales of alcohol, normally as an alternative to prosecution.
- Prosecution - The decision to prosecute someone in a Criminal Court is not taken lightly as we must show the defendant to be guilty 'beyond all reasonable doubt' and the 'Public Interest' test must be satisfied. The decision whether or not to start legal proceedings is taken by councillors
- Licensing - we may call for a review of a premises' licence when we have evidence that the licensing objectives are not being met. An example of this is where there have been underage sales of alcohol. A review can lead to a licence being revoked, suspended or conditions applied to the licence.
Please note that some offences may not come to our attention for some time and could have been committed some time ago. The business may now be trading legitimately, presenting no problem to consumers.
Unfortunately, for legal reasons we cannot name all traders unless they have been prosecuted. We are also not able to give further information on the trading practices for any of the traders listed/mentioned.
Prosecutions
The information on these pages is made available for a limited period in order to promote the openness, transparency and accountability of the criminal justice system to the people it serves. It is made available solely on the basis that it is for the individual use of the person who has accessed this page. The information on this web page must not be stored, recorded, republished, or otherwise processed without the explicit agreement of Coventry Trading Standards.
Latest action
30 June 2021
On 30 June 2021 at Coventry Magistrates Court, Mr Majad Khan operating at Jam Jar, 159 Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1GU pleaded guilty to offences under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 and the Food Safety Act 1990. These relate to the supply of a ’Chocolate Flake Waffle – No Nuts’ that contained hazelnut protein and was therefore unsafe to a person with a nut allergy. Mr Majad Khan was fined £648 on the first charge and no separate penalty was issued for the second charge. Costs of £451.75 were awarded along with a Victim Surcharge of £65.
27 January 2021
On 27 January 2021 at Coventry Magistrates Court, Mr Ajanth Vijayakumaran, operating as a sole trader at Supermart 109 Proffitt Avenue, Coventry, CV6 7ET pleaded guilty to numerous Trading Standards offences identified by officers over a four month period between August 2019 and January 2020. The problems began during an inspection of the business on the 01/08/2019. Trading Standards Officers found meat products on display for sale up to 6 weeks beyond their use by date. Furthermore a number of toys were found on sale which were not labelled correctly and when later tested, found to be dangerous. Subsequently, on the 6 September 2019 officers re-visited the shop in response to intelligence received and identified 2 bottles of counterfeit ‘Glens’ Vodka on sale which officers seized. Then on the 23/12/2019 in response to complaints from members of the public, officers again re-visited the shop and supervised a 16-year-old volunteer make a covert test purchase of two cans of Carling Black Label Beer from the store. This was despite a previous letter of advice being issued to the business on this subject. Finally, on the 2 January 2019 officers returned to the business to respond to a consumer complaint, and during the course of the visit, identified large quantities of Polish beer on the premises for which no traceability information could be provided.
Mr Vijayakumaran pleaded guilty to all charges under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, the Toy Safety Regulations 2011, the Trade Marks Act 1994, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Licensing Act 2003. He was issued with an 18 month Community Order, with 200 hrs of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs of £2,069.84 in addition to a victim surcharge of £90. Forfeiture and destruction of all seized items was ordered.
25 November 2020
Mr Amritpal Singh, director of Mike Roberts Foodstores Limited trading as Nisa 76 Jardine Crescent, Coventry, CV4 9PQ pleaded guilty along with the company to Trade Mark Act offences relating to the possession of 133 bottles of vodka 35cl, which were counterfeit and displayed the Smirnoff trade mark.
The offences occurred on 14 August 2019 when an officer found the bottles during a visit to the shop because of another complaint. When comparing the bottles to authentic bottles also found in the shop it became apparent because of the discrepancies found in the labelling. Photographs and a bottle were sent to Diageo Plc who own the trade mark ‘Smirnoff’ who confirmed the bottles were fake.
Mr Singh was fined £743, had to pay £743 towards costs and a victim surcharge of 74 was levied. Mike Roberts Foodstores Limited was fined £4000, had to pay £876 towards costs and a victim surcharge of £181 was payable. All 133 bottles were subject to a forfeiture order for destruction.
22 September 2020
On 22 September 2020 Mr Mohammed Jussab, aged 63, the owner of General Grocers - 305-307 Foleshill Road, Coventry, CV1 4JS pleaded guilty to 8 offences relating to the sale of a Nicotine Inhaling Device in the form of Vape E-Liquid to a young person under the age of 18 and for being in possession of illegal tobacco.
The offences occurred on 23 December 2019 when a child aged 16, under the supervision of Trading Standards, entered the shop and asked to buy some Nicotine e-liquid. Mr Jussab did not ask for proof of age and sold the e-liquid for £2.50.
Officers then immediately entered the shop and spoke to Mr Jussab about the sale of the E-Liquid and during this conversation officers noticed a bag behind the counter that contained illegal tobacco.
On examining the contents, Officers found that they either were not in plain packaging and as such believed them to be counterfeit or that they were duty evading as the owner stated he was selling the cigarettes for £3.00 and the hand rolling tobacco for £5.00. These items were seized.
It is an offence under the Children and Families Act 2014 and Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 to sell a nicotine containing product to those under 18.
Mr JUSSAB was fined £150.00 and had to pay costs of £100.00 plus a £32.00 Victim Surcharge.
4 March 2020
On 4 March 2020 Mr Dharmendra Singh [37] now of Kilmorie Road, Birmingham pleaded guilty to four offences relating to the supply of unsafe toys, namely Magnetic Putty in his shop, The Swag Shop, 4 Upper Precinct, CV2 4QP. These offences were originally committed in December 2017 but Mr Dharmendra SINGH was only able to attend Court to answer the charges on 4 March 2020. In December 2017 Officers visited Mr Singh’s shop and found some Magnetic Putty for sale for £4.00 per tin and noted that there was no manufacturers or importers name or address on the tin as required. On opening the tin, officers found a small plastic bag containing some type of gel and on top of this was a small loose magnet. A sample of the magnetic putty toy was sent for testing which found that the magnetic strength was 100 times the permitted level whilst the soluble metals found were almost three times the maximum prescribed. Mr Dharmendra Singh was fined a total of £800 with costs of £200 being awarded together with a victim surcharge of £100.
The shop in the Upper Precinct, Coventry run by Mr Dharmendra Singh has since closed and another unconnected business operates from the address.
Licensing reviews
The information on these pages is made available for a limited period in order to promote the openness, transparency and accountability of the criminal justice system to the people it serves. It is made available solely on the basis that it is for the individual use of the person who has accessed this page. The information on this web page must not be stored, recorded, republished, or otherwise processed without the explicit agreement of Coventry Trading Standards.
Latest action
2 September 2019 – Licence Revoked.
Mr Aziz FATAH (45) of Princess Street Coventry, the current Premises Licence Holder and Designated Premises Supervisor for Bucuresti (formerly known as Bucharest) - 490A Foleshill Road, Coventry CV6 5HP had his Premises Licence revoked after illegal tobacco had been found hidden in 2 separate purpose built concealments.
On 5 December 2018 Trading Standards officers visited the premises with a tobacco sniffer dog. Mr FATAH was present when Officers discovered at rear corner of the shop two shelving units cleverly hidden behind a door frame leading to the upstairs of the property.
On 16 January 2019 a test purchase was made and a smuggled [non-duty] packet of Polish cigarettes were sold for £5.00.
On 26 January 2019 Trading Standards officers visited the shop again and the sniffer dog indicated the presence of tobacco by a shelving unit which contained cans of pop and alcohol. Officers discovered that there was a secret compartment built behind the bottom of this shelving unit.
In total, 364 packets of illegal cigarettes, a mixture of counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes were found which had a street value of approximately £1,638.00 and £3,640.00 if genuine.
The Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Sub-Committee, in reaching their decision noted statutory guidance states that certain criminal activity should be treated as being particularly serious, including smuggled tobacco.
The Sub Committee also found the explanations given by the licensee were both evasive, implausible, and unsupported by any evidence. The licensee had also failed to provide any assurances or details of any controls that he could put in place to prevent a recurrence of the reported incident.
The Sub Committee considered that a suspension of the licence would not be appropriate owing to the fact that illicit cigarettes were found on two separate occasions within three weeks of the licensee accepting that he took over control of the premises.
The Sub Committee concluded that only revocation of the premises licence would be appropriate and proportionate in the circumstances.
Enforcement Action under the Enterprise Act
The Enterprise Act 2002 allows us to seek Court Orders against businesses who breach certain consumer protection laws and who act in a way that could harm the rights of the public. However, before taking action the trader will be invited to respond to the allegations against them, and we will work with them in an attempt to bring them up to standard. The trader will also be able to give binding commitments (undertakings) instead of going to court.
12 August 2015
3 individuals trading under a number of names including Longford Park Car Sales and Barber Cars of 101A Longford Road, Coventry CV6 6DY have given undertakings to a Court under the Enterprise Act agreeing to trade fairly.
His Honour Judge Gregory at Coventry County Court, accepted formal undertakings to the court from David Barber (aged 41) of Ranby Prison Nottinghamshire - formerly from Walsgrave Road, Walsgrave - Martin Pittaway (40) from Dorchester Way Walsgrave and Gurdip Virdi (40) from Vicarage Lane, Ash Green.
All three men have previously traded under various trading names from a premise in Longford Road. The undertakings require the individuals not to break a range of consumer legislation or operate to the detriment of consumers.
Details of the undertaking [/downloads/file/17234/undertaking_virdi_pittaway_barber].