AN Aveley supermarket has had its alcohol licence suspended for one month after a former employee sold illicit cigarettes to customers and “trousered” the cash reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Thurrock Council’s licensing sub-committee heard on Monday that Budgens, in Romford Road, had thousands of cigarettes and bottles of alcohol seized during inspections by Trading Standards officers.
The investigation began after a complaint from a member of the public in June, claiming she had been offered cut-price cigarettes by a shop assistant.
A test purchase days later confirmed the sale of illicit Silk Cut cigarettes.
Officers subsequently seized more than 4,000 cigarettes and a bottle of Famous Grouse believed by officers to have a counterfeit label.
Trading Standards said the store, operated by Charworth Ltd, had “serious weaknesses” in stock control and age verification procedures. Officers warned that the sale or storage of illicit goods “poses a risk to public health, undermines legitimate businesses and directly conflicts with licensing objectives.”
A trading standards officer told the committee: “There was a number of incidents that brought this premises to our attention. The first one was on June 16, 2025 we received an intelligence report from a member of the public where she said she stated she was offered a packet of illicit cigarettes by the retailer who claimed that it was old stock from an old store. Upon smoking those cigarettes she became ill and didn’t feel particularly well.”
Chris Lucan, representing the owner, Anthony Benedict, insisted Mr Benedict was unaware of the illegal sales, blaming a rogue employee who was later dismissed.
He said the cigarettes were leftover stock from the previous Londis store and were never intended for sale.
“Mr Benedict has benefited not one penny from this criminal activity, but rather he’s a victim of it,” he told the hearing.
He added: “This was never our stock to sell and we can only assume that this errant member of staff trousered the money.”
Mr Lucan said the seized bottle of alcohol’s label, rather than being counterfeit, had degraded by being in bright light.
Despite improvements noted during a January inspection – including staff training, a refusals log, and invoices from reputable suppliers – officers still found one packet of illicit cigarettes mixed with legitimate stock.
The committee suspended Budgens’ licence for one month to allow the store to “put its house in order.” Conditions include maintaining a refusals register, sourcing all tobacco and alcohol from approved wholesalers, and using UV lights to check duty stamps.
