<p>The police have blamed the illegal sales at Jalaram News in Leicester town's Saffron Lane for a wave of drunken behaviour by children as young as 14 or 15.<br /><br />Police and Leicester City Council launched an investigation when public complaints about the shop began to mount up and caught an illegal sale on camera.<br /><br />At a hearing in the town hall, police showed CCTV images of two 15-year-old boys being served and leaving the shop, only to panic when they saw police officers approaching.<br />The footage showed them running back inside the shop and hiding a bag containing cans of lager. Police went inside and questioned staff, who denied all knowledge of the sale. The officers then searched the shop and found the bag.<br /><br />Owners Jayesh and Pravina Patel were eventually stripped of the right to sell alcohol. They insisted that they had committed such a mistake only once, saying: “We always ask people for identification before we sell alcohol. The council has sent kids into the shop and we always pass those tests.”<br /><br />But city councillor John Thomas told Leicester Mercury newspaper: “The Patels were determined to put their business interests before the interests of the community. That is irresponsible, selfish and dangerous. We want to get a clear message out to licence-holders that this is a serious business.”<br /><br /></p>
<p>The police have blamed the illegal sales at Jalaram News in Leicester town's Saffron Lane for a wave of drunken behaviour by children as young as 14 or 15.<br /><br />Police and Leicester City Council launched an investigation when public complaints about the shop began to mount up and caught an illegal sale on camera.<br /><br />At a hearing in the town hall, police showed CCTV images of two 15-year-old boys being served and leaving the shop, only to panic when they saw police officers approaching.<br />The footage showed them running back inside the shop and hiding a bag containing cans of lager. Police went inside and questioned staff, who denied all knowledge of the sale. The officers then searched the shop and found the bag.<br /><br />Owners Jayesh and Pravina Patel were eventually stripped of the right to sell alcohol. They insisted that they had committed such a mistake only once, saying: “We always ask people for identification before we sell alcohol. The council has sent kids into the shop and we always pass those tests.”<br /><br />But city councillor John Thomas told Leicester Mercury newspaper: “The Patels were determined to put their business interests before the interests of the community. That is irresponsible, selfish and dangerous. We want to get a clear message out to licence-holders that this is a serious business.”<br /><br /></p>