A trading standards swoop has led to a string of convictions and a hefty fine for one Slough shopkeeper.
Manmeet Singh Kalra, owner of Slough Food and Wine in Farnham Road, was prosecuted by Slough Borough Council after a pre-planned raid on a flat above his shop on 9 September 2014.
Trading standards officers, accompanied by police and licensing officers, seized £35,000 worth of illegal tobacco products from a bedroom and a locked cupboard. The haul included 1,702 50g packs of hand rolling tobacco and 702 packets of cigarettes, all of which broke labelling laws by not carrying English health warnings.
Officers also found eight people sharing the four-bed flat, with a family of two adults and two children living in one bedroom.
Concerned about living conditions, trading standards officers enlisted the council’s neighbourhood services team to inspect the flat. One of the bedrooms, occupied by a single man, was damp and mouldy, and the electrical system throughout the flat wasn’t earthed correctly, which put all of the occupants at serious risk of harm.
Officers also discovered the flat wasn’t licensed as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) - a legal requirement for any property of three or more storeys where five or more people from two or more households are living.
Mr Kalra, 39, was sentenced at Reading Magistrates’ Court on 25 August, after admitting possession for supply of 2,404 illegal tobacco products, failing to license a HMO, failing to maintain the electrical system, failing to keep the bedroom in good and clean repair, and failing to display his contact details in a prominent location. He was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £17,012.
