A FINAL decision is expected to be made next week over the fate of a Liversedge petrol station shop after its licence was revoked for underage alcohol sales.

Earlier this year Kirklees Council licensing bosses agreed to revoke the alcohol license at Beechley Filling Station on Wakefield Road after police called for a review of its 24-hours licence.

Plain-clothed police cadets, aged, 13 to 15, were used in a "sting" operation at the premises, also known as Flush Garage, to test purchase alcohol.

Police also described how the filling station had a notorious reputation for hate crime, theft, criminal damage and violence in the months leading up to the operation.

The proprietor, Bradford-based businessman Hamayun Sajjid, was sharply criticised by the Council's licensing panel in April, which he did not attend, for having shown “total disrespect for the law”.

The Council has confirmed that the premises have been allowed to continue serving alcohol at its shop until the appeal is determined.

The appeal, and an application for a new designated premises supervisor - which the police object to - is expected to be decided at the panel when it meets on Wednesday, October 2.

Names have been removed from the documents accompanying the agenda, but police licensing officer Richard Woodhead has objected to the new designated premises supervisor, stating: "The gentleman who wished to become DPS, is [redacted] himself, he has been premises licence holder, and was present when we found the none duty paid cigarettes, he was in charge when the shop failed the test purchase, and has been acting as general manager of the site since he transferred the premises licence.

"Therefore we feel he is not suitable to take on responsibility of being a DPS. as his track record proves he is unsuitable, and so we object to this transfer."

The Council has also confirmed to the Telegraph & Argus that it is Mr Sajjid, the licence holder, now applying to become the designated premises supervisor, who has day to day responsibility for running the premises.

At the earlier hearing, PC Katie Jagger, partnerships officer for Kirklees division, said the three teenagers “did not look 18” when they bought a 700ml bottle of WKD on February 19 and none offered a form of identification.

Nonetheless a 19-year-old member of staff allowed the sale to go ahead.

When police officers interviewed the counter assistant they discovered he was being paid cash-in-hand, was untrained and could not operate the CCTV system.

A week later Trading Standards officers visited the filling station and bought contraband cigarettes believed to have been smuggled into the UK from the Ukraine.

And on March 27 police officers who visited the garage to discuss the review of the premises’ licence discovered more non-duty cigarettes in plain view on the counter with a further carton stashed underneath.

The panel said it was one of the worst cases they had seen.