An employee from a Wokingham off-licence was fined for selling cider to a minor last Friday.
Parmit Singh Kapoor, 29, from BB Wines, was convicted at Reading Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to selling a single bottle of Koppaberg cider to a 15-year-old.
Mr Kapoor, of Hadley Gardens, London, was on the phone to his sister when Wokingham Borough Council’s Public Protection Partnership Officers conducted a routine underage sales operation on the Broad Street wine store.
The officers entered the store on 16 November 2018 with an underage volunteer who took the alcoholic drink to the till.
Mr Kapoor was the only staff member in the shop but he did not halt his phone call, ask the teenager for their age or for their ID during the sale.
Wokingham Borough Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Leisure Cllr Parry Batth said: “It is important that those who sell alcohol or indeed any age restricted product remain vigilant at all times.
“We will continue to carry out exercises of this nature as part of our comprehensive approach to age restricted sales enforcement.”
Mr Kapoor was fined £100, ordered to pay £200 towards prosecution costs and a £30 victim’s surcharge resulting in a total charge of £330.