Burnley shop's teen cigs and booze rap

Humera Zafar, the licence holder at Lifestyle Express in Anglesey Avenue, faced having her licence withdrawn after police and Lancashire Trading Standards made complaints to Burnley Borough Council.

Trading Standards said there has been a long history at the store of illegal activity, including the sale of tobacco and alcohol to underage customers.

Burnley Council has confirmed that Zafar voluntarily gave up her licence before she was due to attend a licensing sub committee hearing at Burnley Town Hall.

Police revealed that on October 22nd 2016 they were informed of a 14 year-old girl being admitted into the Royal Blackburn Hospital after consuming a £13 bottle of vodka.

The teenager had drank the vodka over a short period of time and as a result had fallen over and banged her head which resulted in a few days in hospital.

A police investigation led to establishing the vodka had been bought by the girl from the Anglesey Avenue off licence and the seller was Humera Zafar.

Zafar was issued a Penalty Notice for the offence of the sale of alcohol to a person under the age of 18. She was fined £90 and the matter was not contested.

The police also revealed that a member of the public had contacted them to say: “The shopkeeper is selling beer and cigarettes to kids from all over Burnley.

“They are coming over for it and they end up kicking the cars and stuff.”

The informant had allegedly seen children walking out of the shop with alcohol and tobacco regularly according to police.

In December 2017 Zafar was fined £250 with a victim surcharge of £30 and costs of £1,085 at Burnley Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to supplying tobacco products that did not display compliant health warnings.

Sgt Jason Middleton said: “Local enquiries revealed that apparently Humera Zafar hadn’t been seen at the shop for a while. This is concerning because she’s the designated premises supervisor for the premises and should be responsible for the day to day running of the premises.”