BOSSES at a food store have been fined for breaching their premises licence after repeatedly failing to download CCTV footage from the business.

Council officers visited East Euro Food Stores on Whetley Lane three times over several months, and each time staff told them they were unable to download security footage.

One of the licensing conditions of the business is that staff are able to download CCTV when requested by officers, either from Bradford Council or the police.

On Tuesday the business’ director and designated premises supervisor both appeared at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court, each pleading guilty to three charges of not complying with their licence.

Javad Akbari, 38, of Abbey Lea, Bradford, is the director of the business. He pleaded guilty to three offences of carrying on a unauthorised licensable activity.

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He was handed a £204 fine, ordered to pay £555 costs and a £63 victim surcharge.

Ahmadreza Zaraie, 38, of Lombardy Garth, Wakefield, is the designated premises supervisor. He pleaded guilty to the same three charges.

He was given a £630 fine, ordered to pay £555 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

The court was told that Council staff had originally visited the business on June 28 2018 along with Trading Standards officers as part of an operation to tackle counterfeit cigarettes in Bradford.

They asked staff to download the CCTV that covers the store, but were told they did not have the PIN number needed to do so.

A return visit on July 25 yielded a similar response, with staff again saying they were unable to download the footage. Officers were again told that the CCTV could not be downloaded when they made a third visit on December 5.

Aneeka Sarwar, prosecuting on behalf of Bradford Council, said: “In essence this all relates to not complying with the conditions of the licence.

“On June 28 the premises were visited by an officer and Mr Zaraie was unable to operate the CCTV.

“On July 25 an enforcement officer visited the premises again for a compliance inspection and no member of staff was able to operate the CCTV footage.

“They visited on December 5 and Mr Akbari was present, but was unable to download the CCTV footage.”

When asked if they had anything to say to the court, Zaraie said: “All I can say is I’m pleading guilty. I’m really sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Speaking through a Farsi interpretor, Akbari said: “Because I didn’t have the password for the CCTV I am pleading guilty. I do apologise.”

Magistrates asked Mrs Sarwar why that condition would be applied to the premises licence. She replied: “For issues like prevention of crime, public safety and preventing the sale of alcohol to under age customers.”

Neither defendant had any previous convictions.

Chair of the Magistrates Elizabeth Bourgeois said: “There offences have taken place over a long period of time, over which you made no attempt to rectify the issue.

“You are both responsible for the security in the shop and it is your legal duty to comply with the licence regulations.

“They are not just there for public safety, you need to have working CCTV to protect yourselves. You need to make sure this works from now on.”