Lincolnshire County Council

Of the 8,555 children applying to Lincolnshire secondary schools this year, 86% (7,358) will receive a place at their first-choice school.

Because of appeals and movement on the reserve list, it is likely that further children will be offered a place at their first-choice school by the time they start in September.

Currently 8% have been offered a place at their second preference, with 2% receiving a place at their third choice, resulting in 96% of all applicants receiving one of their preferences.

The 4% who haven’t got one of their preferred schools will be offered a place at the closest school in Lincolnshire with spaces available.

Councillor Mrs Patricia Bradwell OBE, executive councillor for children’s services, said: “It‘s good to see so many families receiving offers at one of their preferred schools again, especially with it being such a large cohort this year. This figure is likely to be even higher by September.

“It is always our intention to support parents to make the application process as easy as possible, and it’s nice to see an increasing number of parents using the online parent portal to make their application and receive their offer on national offer day.”

Parents who applied using the online application system will have been emailed their offer letter on 1 March – go to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/schooladmissions and log on to the parent portal if you cannot access this email. Parents who applied by phone or paper form will have been posted their letter today (1 March), first-class.

Parents have until noon on 28 March to lodge an appeal if they are unhappy with the offered school.

If parents return the appeal form by the deadline, it will be heard before the end of the summer term. If it is received late, it will still be heard but this may be in the last week of term or even into September.

Parents who wish to apply for school transport will find information on this in their offer letter or can go to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/school-college-transport for eligibility information and how to apply. For travel arrangements to be in place by September, parents need to apply by 31 May.

For further details about school admissions, go to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/schooladmissions.

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Lincolnshire Trading Standards has secured a prosecution against Amir Ahmadi of the Super Sam Mini Market on the city’s High Street.

Ahmadi, 44 of Maxwell Way, Sheffield, was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on 2 February after he was found selling illegal cigarettes from the High Street shop on a number of occasions between February and August 2020.

After Lincolnshire Trading Standards’ first raid of the shop in February 2020, Ahmadi was interviewed under caution by officers, and he promised them he would not return to selling illegal cigarettes at the Super Sam store.

However, when officers returned less than two months later, Amir Ahmadi was once again behind the counter selling the illicit wares. On a further two visits that year, officers from Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Lincolnshire Police seized over 2,300 illegal cigarettes from the shop where Amir Ahmadi was working.

Lincolnshire Trading Standards made the landlord of the shop aware of the illegal activity taking place on the premises, and the tenants were evicted.

| Photo: Lincolnshire County Council

After pleading guilty to the offences at Lincoln Crown Court, Ahmadi was sentenced to two years custody, suspended for two years; a 12-month community order with a 35-days rehabilitation activity requirement; and 80 hours of unpaid work.

Andy Wright, Principal Lincolnshire Trading Standards Officer, said: “The business Ahmadi was working in had no legitimate purpose, and was set up simply to sell illegal tobacco products.

“After our first raid, Amir Ahmadi was given a chance to leave the store, and not return to selling illegal cigarettes. And it later emerged he has been convicted of this activity before, back in 2015, so he was well aware that what he was doing was wrong. Instead he chose to go back to the store and continue pedalling these dangerous and illegal goods.

“The judge felt suspending Ahmadi’s sentence for the maximum two years would provide him with one final opportunity to change his ways. If he’s brought before the court at any point over the next 24 months he’ll be hauled straight to prison.

“Illegal cigarettes really aren’t worth the risks: if they’re counterfeit, you have no idea what might be inside them; they present a much greater fire risk because they often can’t self-extinguish; and buying them funds organised criminal gangs and brings anti-social behaviour to your neighbourhood.”

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the illegal cigarettes seized from Amir Ahmadi to Lincolnshire Trading Standards. They will now be destroyed.

If you are concerned that a business is selling illegal cigarettes or vapes, you can report this to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service. Visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer or call 0808 223 1133. Or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, crimestoppers-uk.org.

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