Grimsby shop owner’s wife ‘upset’ over licensing accusations

The wife of a Grimsby shop owner is “very upset” over accusations the couple tried to frustrate the licensing process and denied doing so according to their agent.

North East Lincolnshire Council’s licensing authority will examine a licensing review for Thambiah Rameshkumar’s shop Cartergate News and Wine on Thursday.

They had been due to decide on an application to transfer the license in February — however, that was withdrawn at the last minute after Humberside Police accused the couple of trying to circumvent their application review.

A recent investigation by Humberside Police found Mr Rameshkumar selling stolen goods including Poundland tuna.

A previous incident saw a shop worker assault a customer using a hammer and weapons were found stored behind the counter including a metal sword and a plastic cricket bat.

Historical reviews going back to 2009 have also revolved around underage sales and sales to drunk members of the public.

In a letter to the council, Suresh Kanapathi, consultant at Arka Licensing, said this ”wasn’t the case” and that there had been a mix up between whether the council’s own team had reviewed the license or the police team.

“If I knew it was police licensing, then I would have talked to you first,” he said.

“In this instance we submitted the application on the basis that his wife is now taking full control of the business and he [Thambiah] is leaving the business totally.

“His wife [Jeyathevi Rameshkumar] is very upset about this matter, she said she wanted to run the business herself, without any involvement of him.

“Now we understand it [the licence review] was certain, we apologise for making you upset in this matter while you are taking the necessary action.”

Thambiah Rameshkumar and his representatives before the licensing committee in August 2019.

A report before councillors said, however, Humberside Police were “extremely concerned that Mr Rameshkumar and those connected with the premises would continue to engage in criminality if the premises licence was not revoked”.

“The view of the Chief Constable is that the premise has had a troubled past both historically and more recently,” said the report.

“Most, if not all the incidents, have resulted in police investigation with a positive outcome as well as leading to a local authority licensing sub-committee review hearing.”