Humberside Police have accused a Grimsby shop owner of trying to “frustrate the licensing process” after he was found selling stolen Poundland goods, including tuna.
North East Lincolnshire Council’s licensing authority on Thursday will examine a request by Jeyathevi Rameshkumar to transfer the premises license for Cartergate News and Wine from her husband Thambiah.
The force however, believe the application is an attempt to circumvent their own review application following investigations into criminal activity at the shop.
A statement from PC Garry Stuart Chapman, who is based in the licensing team, said that in December 2020, officers “became aware that the shop was potentially purchasing stolen food items from a known male to sell in the shop”.
Evidence said the man, who is currently on bail charged with a number of offences, would enter Cartergate with a “full shopping bag” but would leave “moments later with the same bag looking less full or empty”.
Items found included multipacks of tuna and jars of coffee, some of which were found on the shop’s shelves.
When confronted, Mr Rameshkuma admitted buying the products and putting them on the store’s shelves.
He also admitted that he knew the seller was a “thief”.
Thambiah Rameshkumar and his representatives before the licensing committee in August 2019.
Officers say Mr Rameshkuma attended the police station on January 7 to and asked the officer if police would be reviewing the licence and was told papers were being prepared.
However, on the day the papers were submitted North East Lincolnshire also informed Humberside Police it would be rejected, as two applications had been received the day before to transfer the license and change the premises supervisor to Mrs Rameshkumar.
“It is believed the two applications have been made as a result of knowing Humberside Police would apply for a review and this would delay or potentially prevent this from happening,” said the report.
“By transferring the premise licence between husband and wife there will be no significant change in how this business operates now and has operated for a number of years.
“It is extremely likely the premises will continue to engage in behaviour likely to undermine the licensing objectives.”
In August 2019, Mr Thambiah was warned he could lose his livelihood if he appeared before licensing again.
It followed an assault at the shop in which a customer was hit with a hammer by a staff member.
Subsequent visits discovered an ornamental sword and a plastic cricket bat behind the counter.
Previous reviews were made after reports revealed alcohol had been bought from the shop by underage or drunk street drinkers.
In 2009, licensing members tried to revoke the licence after feeling children’s lives had been put at risk, however, this was overturned at appeal.
Other issues include a knife incident and anti-social behaviour caused by drunk youths.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Lincolnshire residents are already feeling the impact of the rise in energy bills, which could soar to over £4,000 next year, with some saying they will just cancel their direct debits.
Energy bills for a typical household could hit £4,266 next year, experts warned. The higher estimate means the average household would be paying £550 a month, instead of £164 a month currently.
Two Lincolnshire MPs said they are pleased with the support being offered by the government so far, while a third sounded the alarm for extra support.
This comes after Cornwall Insight criticised regulator Ofgem’s decision to change the price cap every three months instead of six, as higher wholesale prices are also forecast. However, Ofgem said no forecast for next year could be “robust” at this stage and had “limited value”, according to the BBC.
In May, a £400 energy bill support was announced which was calculated on the basis of Ofgem’s prediction at the time that the price cap was likely to rise to £2,800, but experts now believe this will be higher. Here’s an explainer on how to access the energy grant here.
The Don’t Pay UK movement is demanding a reduction in energy bills to an affordable level, saying: “We will cancel our direct debt from October 1, if we are ignored. We will take this action if pledges reach one million by then.”
This sentiment was echoed by The Lincolnite readers, including Laura Jayne Coupland who said: “I will just cancel my direct debit because it’s an absolute joke. It’s about time the government intervened properly, if you care about the people and the economy so much, why are you allowing it? Let me guess, you will benefit from it.”
Kayleigh Dawson said: “I’ve cancelled my energy direct debits and will pay monthly what I can afford to. I’m more conscious on how much money I’m spending on outgoings and limiting them where possible.
“But, in complete honesty, who is not worried about the ever rising cost of just living and surviving? We shouldn’t be going from being comfortable to scraping by because those in powerful positions want second and third homes.”
Karl Anders said: “People seem to have no spare cash nowadays. My print business has gone from £108k during the pandemic to £5k this year. On top of this, we’ll probably be paying £300-£400 a month energy soon based on already thrifty usage.
“I don’t think many people understand how bad it’s going to get with food price rises, etc. There is a “I’ll put a jumper on” mentality currently, which will soon be shattered in October.”
Michael Basford said: “You do what our grandparents did, you cut your cloth. Our grandparents generation were amazing and very pragmatic when it came to making a little go far.
“Make do and mend as my grandmother use to say. So people should be planning for the worst case scenario now, not when it’s here and then too late. Own it.”
Peter Sykes said: “It’ll impact me by not using my heating. Probably not being able to pay my bills. Not able to buy food. Probably lead to a lot of people needlessly dying.”
Karen Price said: “Just had a bill for gas and lecky just under £3k for 8 months! British Gas put an estimate on the bill saying it will be just under £6k for 12 months next year.
“I’m not holding my breath for the October increases and tied myself in to a fixed not variable.
“Since my last supplier went bankrupt and it’s taken oven 8 months for British Gas to get us fully swapped over, it’s already increased tariff twice.
“Five years ago I was paying under £160 per month for both utilities. £2k per year, it’s now getting beyond a joke, considering three family members no longer live at home.
Ady Brodrick said: “Rising costs are a terrible thing for people, however with a change in lifestyle and some education the cost could be reduced. Sometimes it is situations like this that makes us change.”
Dennis Murray said: “Not quite sure how all this happened, except for a bit of rumouring. The country is definitely not going to survive under the current charges.
“Businesses are going to go to the wall, people on low wages are going to end up on full-time benefits, the countries tax recipes will collapse.
“There WILL be anarchy on our streets, people who have never demonstrate will now do it, crime will increase, people will cancel house, car, life, home insurance because they will not be able to afford it.
“Pensioners and other vulnerable people will turn their heating down, and some will die. Transport and personal cars will be a no no. I could go on and on. But this is reality, and what we are facing if something is not done now.”
Lincolnshire County Councillor Colin Davie said there were challenging times ahead for people on low incomes due to rising energy costs and political instability.
He said successive governments “of all colours” had “simply failed the British public on energy”.
“They haven’t planned, they haven’t invested, they haven’t built the infrastructure. So rising energy costs, which we should have been protected, are now absolutely under the whims of other people.”
He said there needed to be a balanced energy mix including solar, nuclear, wind, but that the current infrastructure was disconnected and “not secure”.
And he warned it was only going to get worse with reserves from Norway drying up and other countries having to make drastic changes over how much they export.
Whatsapp
