Shop barred from selling alcohol

A shop in Grove, near Wantage, has been banned from selling alcohol after a crackdown on underage drinking.

McColls, at Millbrook Square, sold alcohol to 14 and 15 year olds in tests carried out by Oxfordshire's Trading Standards team.

The firm has been stripped of its licence by Vale of White Horse Council.

The company had argued that if its licence was removed the store, which includes a Post Office, would have to shut, with the loss of 12 jobs.

A hearing of the council's licensing committee heard that the shop failed four out of five test purchases over the last three years.

Test purchases

It also failed to comply with strict conditions imposed in April after police called for a licence review.

Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire County Council Trading Standards asked the committee to revoke the licence.

Representatives from McColls said all staff at the shop had been retrained, and internal test purchasing and new procedures for verifying a customer's age had been introduced.

But the committee rejected the company's submissions.

The company has 21 days to appeal for a judicial review.