Hundreds of Viagra tablets were sold illegally at a Liverpool city centre shop.
The premises licence holder at Freshway (Best One) on London Road claimed he “did not know” selling the erectile dysfunction pills was illegal. He was today slapped with a 28-day premises licence suspension by Liverpool Council.
A local authority licensing sub-committee hearing was told how canisters of nitrous oxide and counterfeit spirits were also found during an inspection earlier this year.
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A review of the premises licence was conducted after submissions were made by Merseyside Police that the location was potentially in breach of its licensing objectives to prevent crime, disorder and public nuisance.
Mark Wainwright, Liverpool Council enforcement officer, confirmed a visit took place to the London Road shop, owned by Tharmalingam Gnanachchandran, in March with bottles of vodka on display for £12.99 which he said immediately caused concern as he felt this was “too cheap.” It was found these bottles had a counterfeit duty stamp on them.
Alongside the vodka were bottles of rum from the Dominican Republic bearing the same counterfeit symbol. Mr Cartwright said this aroused suspicion the spirits had been illegally imported.
At the rear of the store, it was said a quantity of nitrous oxide canisters were found, alongside balloons and crackers. Mr Cartwright said while there can be a legitimate use of nitrous oxide in baking, he added: “We would say these were not for baking cream cakes.”
A follow-up visit in April revealed how the spirits were no longer on display. Sergeant Craig Carmichael, Merseyside Police, told the committee how during the original inspection 226 packets of Viagra tablets were found at the premises.
He said there were also 22 oral jellies and plastic bags containing the substance with the same active ingredient as Viagra in a back store room. These were in 100mg packets, despite only being appropriate for sale at a pharmacy at a strength of 50mg.
Sgt Carmichael said the nitrous oxide was “massively impacting city centre communities” and was impacting people’s quality of life. He added how small canisters being littered after use was a “huge issue” and cost Liverpool Council and private cleaning companies, while doing “no favours” to the reputation of the city.
Committee chair, Cllr Christine Banks, said London Road had become a “blight on the city centre” causing additional resources being used up by police.
Tony Nelson, licensing agent acting on behalf of Mr Gnanachchandran, said his client “does not want to be part of a business that is a blight on the neighbourhood.” Mr Nelson said his client “did not know” he couldn’t sell Viagra at his shop and was “really apologetic.”
In a bid to address concerns, Mr Nelson said his client would “under no circumstances” sell nitrous oxide again. He added how Mr Gnanachchandran - who operates 13 shops - had been a “hostage to fortune” and had no interest in making “a few extra pennies selling counterfeit alcohol.”
Mr Gnanachchandran “takes this very seriously” and the items found at the shop were “out of character, out of step with how he runs his business,” Mr Nelson said. This didn’t wash with Cllr Banks however.
She said: “What I can’t accept is, this man is a businessman, he owns a lot of shops. He must go around, he must look at the takings.
“I would expect he goes to see what’s going on. You can’t blame staff.” Cllr Banks confirmed the 28 day suspension of the premises licence would begin from June 21.
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