A SHOP owner recorded himself on CCTV selling alcohol to dozens of customers within minutes of having his licence revoked on the back of police complaints.
Khawaja Nadeem's lawyer described his client's actions as the worst "display of stupidity" he had encountered in a quarter of a century representing traders at licensing courts.
Mr Nadeem's licence had been revoked in August after Strathclyde Police called for action from the local authority on the back of a string of alleged incidents.
But an hour-and-a-half after the city's licensing board issued the ban, officers apprehended two youths who had bought vodka and alcopops from Mr Nadeem's off-sales store.
Despite blaming the sale on a staff member who had not been informed of the ban, CCTV footage later seized by the police showed Mr Nadeem making numerous sales at Tommy's in the Govanhill area of Glasgow.
The footage showed Mr Nadeem selling five different customers various types of alcohol, including vodka, cider, beer and tonic wine within 10 minutes of returning from the licensing board meeting.
Half-an-hour later he was shown on CCTV selling a two-litre bottle of cider to a customer wearing a motorcycle helmet without confirming their age, and minutes after being charged by the police with selling alcohol while banned he was seen opening the shop's chiller to sell two customers enough drink to fill their rucksacks.
Dozens more sales were made that evening, with footage showing one customer buying a can of lager and drinking it in the shop, another breach of liquor laws.
Although police visited him again that evening, CCTV footage from the subsequent days show Mr Nadeem again selling alcohol.
His lawyer, Archie McIvor, said: "I am as close to having nothing to say on behalf of a client as I have ever been.
"In my 25 years of doing this job I have never come across such a display of stupidity as the one found in this litany of complaints from the Chief Constable.
"The only explanation is that when your honours made your decision they [the Nadeems] were distraught and visualised their entire world crumbling around them.
"Looking at the entirety of the description given by Strathclyde Police you might characterise it as stupidity or maybe 'oh, my God what are we going to do', or a deliberate act to ignore a decision of this board. I would say it was stupidity."
Malcolm Cunning, the licensing board's chairman, said: "It was strongly emphasised at the previous meeting that the decision to revoke came into effect immediately.
"Not only did your client ignore us, but then ignored police officers and also allowed drink to be consumed on the premises.
"In terms of stupidity, you have to ask 'why on earth would you leave the CCTV system on to record all of this?'. Saying it was stupid is a kindness."
The licence for the premises was suspended for 12 months.
Ishrat Nadeem, Mr Nadeem's wife, who was designated premises manager, also had her personal licence revoked.
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