Wolverhampton shopkeeper 'battered by drunken customers' as booze licence is reviewed
A distraught shopkeeper said drunken thugs attacked him to force him into selling them alcohol from his Wolverhampton store.
Baljit Singh Batiya said he was being portrayed as a “bad guy” after being hauled before Wolverhampton Council's licensing committee to answer a review into his booze licence.
He said the problems of aggressive street drinking he was being blamed for was forcing him to sell up his businesses and move out of the city.
A review into Mr Batiya’s premises licence for The Newsagents in School Street was called by the authority’s licensing team and supported by Trading Standards and Public Health.
West Midlands Police withdrew representations they had originally made and didn’t attend the hearing on Tuesday.
Concerns centred around the sale of alcohol to known street drinkers and beggars who were already intoxicated, resulting in anti-social behaviour in the area.
The hearing was also told 116 illegal vapes were found in the shop on August 4, following a visit.
Mr Batiya said he regretted the sale of vapes, which he bought from a cash and carry, and vowed to ensure it would never happen again.
But he said aggressive customers battered him and damaged his shop when he refused to serve them alcohol and he’d received no support when he reported incidents to the police.
Mr Batiya, who told the hearing he had turned his life around after sleeping rough, said the offenders were people who used the homeless charity P3 Wolverhampton Navigator, a few doors down.
He also revealed he had closed a pizza shop business which was subject to a previous licence review by the police.
He said: “On a number of occasions, I’ve been left alone to fight all of this. Whenever I have enforced (the licensing objectives), I got a beating, was left bleeding and they smashed my windows.
“Whenever I call the police, I’m just given a crime number. How am I supposed to deal with all of this? Where is the help?
“You opened the P3 building two doors down. All the beggars and homeless people go there and wait for hours.
“By the time they need alcohol they become aggressive. That building should be outside the town and on a bigger scale with more staff and help.
“I am from the same charity. I slept outside. This was a success story, they helped me to come where I am and open five businesses in the city centre.
“But now, it’s too hostile to run any business and they are going one by one.
“I sold one last year and I closed the pizza shop which the police brought an unnecessary review two weeks ago. I closed it yesterday – no point in opening that.
“You are just waiting for one simple mistake by my staff and publicly humiliating me.
“I’ve got two businesses left and I will sell or close them in the next six months and leave Wolverhampton.
“It’s becoming too hostile. I’m being made responsible for everything. I made a mistake on the vaping and I regret that. It won’t happen in any of my businesses again.
“Wolverhampton gave me everything I needed and I love this city but now it’s come to the point I’m being projected as a bad guy who is responsible for all the bad things in the area.”
Licensing manager Greg Bickerdike said: “The premises cannot control its customers and is contributing to problem street drinking in the city centre which causes anti-social behaviour and litter.
“This is unpleasant for residents and visitors as well ass being bad for other businesses.
“There is a public spaces protection order in place specifically to tackle this problem and the premises is undermining this by selling to drunk people.”
The committee decided to impose a string of stricter conditions on Mr Batiya’s licence including the banning of sales of alcohol above 6.5 per cent in strength as well as cans to be sold in multi-packs of four or more.
Others included a digital CCTV system to be in place, more staff training and an up to date log of incidents kept on the premises.
