First conviction of shopkeeper for sales below 'minimum price'

The Local Government Lawyer is reporting the first conviction for selling below the ‘minimum price’.

On 19 May 2016 a shopkeeper was found guilty at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court on four charges relating to the sale of ‘Kommissar Vodka’, which he was selling at less than the cost of the duty and VAT payable on it.

This follows the introduction in February 2014 of mandatory conditions on premises licences making it an offence to sell any product at less than this minimum price. The Government introduced the ban on ‘below cost’ selling in a bid to tackle the worst examples of sales of cheap alcohol.
The minimum legal price for a bottle of 37.5% ABV vodka would be £8.89 but the vodka was being sold for £7.99.

The store owner was fined a total of £3,200, ordered to pay costs of £1,331 and required to pay a victim surcharge of £120. The vodka seized by Trading Standards officers was ordered to be destroyed. According to the council, some of the vodka being sold was found to be counterfeit, and was unfit for human consumption.

He was also found guilty of selling a product that was falsely described as vodka, and of falsely declaring an alcohol content of 37.5% ABV when the alcohol content was in fact 23.3% ABV.
Source: LGL