Agenda item

The applicants wish to vary the licence as follows:-

1) Addition of wine tower within the alcohol display area which results in a change to the layout plan.

2) Increase in capacity from 144.48 to 154.48 square metres.

Summary Sheet attached – Item 6(c)

Archie MacIver, Solicitor, Glasgow appeared on behalf of the applicant and spoke to the terms of the application which sought to add a further wine tower and increase the capacity from 144.48 m2 to 154.48 m2. Mr MacIver said this was a fairly straightforward application but referred to the representation from Police Scotland (Appendix 2).

Sergeant Iain McNicol, Police Scotland read out the letter of representation dated 13^th August, 2019 and referred to Appendix A detailing various incidents from March 2017 to July 2019 relating to the theft of alcohol from the premises. He advised that they had visited the premises in March of this year regarding the amount of alcohol which had been stolen over the period and advised the manager that they could assist with the recommendations from the Crime Prevention Survey which had been undertaken on 18^th September 2018. Sergeant McNicol advised that none of the recommendations had been implemented.

Lorna Douglas asked what recommendations had been put forward. Sergeant McNicol said a change to the layout of the store to alter the checkout area so that all customers required to pass the tills to exit the store; at peak times, staff to monitor the self- service tills; continued surveillance of the alcohol area; mirrors to be erected at blind spots and to monitor the CCTV during peak times of shoplifting and to encourage staff to make eye contact with customers.

Mr MacIver stated that he wished to start with an apology. He advised that at the time the survey was carried out there had been a change in management and there had been a failure to convey information back to the Police. Mr MacIver advised that a number of changes had been implemented- a mirror had been put in place to improve visibility; the licensed area was monitored by a representative of the store; security marks had been placed on certain products and notices displayed so the customers were aware of this; self-service tills were now supervised; additional training had been provided to staff; CCTV had been adjusted for the car park area and a tagging system was to be used for higher value products. Mr MacIver said that the shop layout could not be changed as Waitrose had a standard layout for all their stores. He acknowledged that there had been issues in 2017 and 2018 but only 4 in 2019, two of which were detected; one was a small theft and one, the customer had been approached outwith the premises so over the course of the last 9 months there had been a major improvement. He added that Waitrose were a responsible operator with hundreds of stores throughout the UK.

Robin Currie stated had he never seen a report like this and wondered why it had been brought before the Board. He asked if it was because Waitrose did not seem concerned or was it the huge increase in shoplifting incidents. He noted that no representative of Waitrose was present today.

Sergeant McNicol advised that Police Scotland wanted to bring these incidents to the attention of the Board as one of the licensing objectives is to prevent crime and disorder.

The Chair asked if anyone had been charged in respect of any of the incidents. Sergeant McNicol advised that he was unable to provide any further information other than what’s in the report but some of the incidents had been detected. The Chair noted that the last incident listed resulted in the customer handing back the alcohol and wondered if this had been reported.

Mr MacIver stated that the store reported all thefts and staff were trained to detain the person if it was safe to do so until the Police arrived. He said that over a period of 2 years, approximately 20 incidents had been reported which was not a large amount compared to other stores in urban areas.

The Chair referred to the incident on 6^th September 2018 which took place at 10.20am but was not reported until 5.05pm and asked why there had been such a delay. Mr MacIver said he did not know why this happened as it should have been reported immediately but speculated that it may have been because it was only detected when viewing the CCTV later that day. The Chair noted there had been fewer incidents this year but two of them involved extremely high value thefts. Mr MacIver reiterated that all thefts were reported, whether they were of low or high value.

Robin Currie expressed concern that the shoplifting appears to be organised and there may be a risk that some of it is being sold to young people. Mr MacIver advised that the store cordoned off the alcohol area at lunch times when school kids were on the premises.

The Chair asked Sergeant McNicol if the Police attended all the incidents listed in the report and he confirmed that they had.

Raymond Park, Licensing Standards Officer advised that he had been liaising with the Police and management as the premises were seen as an easy touch and were being targeted by professional shoplifters. Mr Park advised that changes had been put in place and a lot of the measures had been implemented.

Lorna Douglas said when she was in the store she did not see any supervision at the self-service tills or at the alcohol area. The only change she noticed was the installation of the mirror.

Mr MacIver said this was disappointing and there appeared to be conflicting reports between what he was being told and what he was now hearing. He suggested that the matter be continued to the next Board meeting to enable a representative from Waitrose to attend.

Richard Trail asked if a report could be compiled by the Licensing Standards Officer over the next 12 months to ascertain if there had been a decline in the number of incidents. Raymond Park advised that Police Scotland could provide this.

Rory Colville said he had no issues granting the application but would like someone from Waitrose to appear at the next Board meeting to reassure him.

The Chair stated that he was unhappy that no-one from Waitrose was present but he appreciated Mr MacIver could only put forward what he had been told.

The Board adjourned to consider the application and, on resuming, the Chair moved that the application be continued to the November Board meeting to allow a representative from Waitrose to appear and also to seek a report from Police Scotland

With no-one else being otherwise minded, this became the decision of the Board.