Sandwell Council has revoked the licence of Best One Store in Market Place, Great Bridge, Tipton, following the theft of a winning lottery ticket worth £920. The decision came after owner Vincent Shaanmugarajah Thamilnesan provided multiple contradictory explanations regarding the incident.
Police investigation reveals discrepancies
West Midlands Police investigated the shop after a staff member was accused of stealing a winning lottery ticket. The victim initially received only £30 in winnings, later discovering the prize was substantially higher at £920. During the investigation, Mr Thamilnesan initially lied to officers, claiming he was not the owner and could not access CCTV footage. However, a week later, he changed his story when interviewed again.
The shop's CCTV footage, which should have been retained for at least a month, had been recorded over just a week earlier. West Midlands Police stated that the missing video had hampered their investigation into the missing ticket.
Licensing committee's concerns
Licensing committee chair Cllr Matt Lloyd noted that Mr Thamilnesan had provided varying and differing narratives and several different versions of what had happened to the winning ticket. This led the panel to have no confidence in his ability to hold a licence for the 24-hour shop, resulting in revocation.
Sandwell Council's licensing enforcement officer earlier expressed serious concerns about the shop and urged councillors to consider revoking the licence.
Ticket machine prompts ignored
The hearing was told that the process for shopkeepers who are handed a winning ticket involves several prompts from the ticket machine to notify the customer of the win. Mr Thamilnesan admitted he had not noticed them. The on-screen message would have informed him that the shop could not pay out the prize and should return the ticket to the customer with instructions to submit an online claim.
Duncan Craig, the licensing barrister representing Mr Thamilnesan, argued that the shop owner would still have had to claim the prize if he had stolen it. Where is the dishonesty? he said. There is no gain made out of this at all. And there is no way he would have known the amount that was involved. There has been no loss sustained, and nothing gained.
Community resolution and prior licence revocation
Mr Thamilnesan told the hearing he had only admitted the ticket theft to West Midlands Police and agreed to sign a community resolution based on legal advice. The community resolution is an informal out-of-court settlement used by the force for minor offences and anti-social behaviour.
Before the council's hearing, lottery operator Camelot had already stripped Mr Thamilnesan of his licence to sell lottery tickets. The council's licensing committee initially met on June 30 to review the shop's licence but adjourned due to the lack of a Tamil interpreter for Mr Thamilnesan. The hearing reconvened on July 10, resulting in the licence revocation.
