Shop loses licence over missing lottery ticket

A shop supervisor accused of stealing a winning lottery ticket has been stripped of his licence.

The victim was given £30 in winnings for the lottery ticket only to realise after the prize should have been "substantially higher," West Midlands Police said. It was later revealed the prize was £920.

The licence for Best One Store in Market Place, Great Bridge, Tipton, was revoked by Sandwell Council after Vincent Shaanmugarajah Thamilnesan gave confusing explanations over his role over the theft.

Thamilnesan told the hearing he had admitted the ticket theft to police and agreed to sign a community resolution, an informal out-of-court settlement.

Licensing committee chair Matt Lloyd said Thamilnesan provided varying accounts of what happened to the ticket which meant the panel had no confidence in his ability to hold a licence.

During the police investigation, Thamilnesan, the shop's licence holder and designated supervisor, told officers he was not the owner of the Great Bridge shop and could not access CCTV, only to change his story when interviewed by the same officers a week later.

CCTV footage from the shop, which should have been kept for at least a month, had been recorded over a week earlier and police said the missing video had "hampered" their investigation into the missing ticket.

Sandwell Council's licensing enforcement officer said they had "serious concerns" about the shop and urged councillors to give serious consideration to revoking the licence.

The hearing heard how Thamilnesan would have been given several prompts by the ticket machine to notify the customer had won yet the shop owner said he "hadn't noticed them."

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