A SOUTHAMPTON shopkeeper could lose his licence after being found drunk at his store on several occasions.

Police also say Kamalnayn Patel sold booze to teenagers as young as 15 on several occasions while under the influence.

The shopkeeper will now face licensing chiefs in a bid to convince them to let him keep his licence for Hatchers Card Shop in Swaythling.

A report put together by Hampshire Constabulary contains a list of offences going back to October 2011, when police officers carrying out a routine visit discovered that he was “under the influence of alcohol”.

In March the following year another police officer saw him again under the influence, saying he “initially put this down to tiredness, he then confessed and stated that he sometimes smokes and drinks at the shop”.

An open can of alcohol was seen behind the High Road shop’s counter and “he also admitted to drinking whiskey on this occasion”.

Police had recommended that he install a CCTV system, maintain a refusals log and carry out training, but the report says that some of the conditions had not been implemented more than two years after they had been made.

In April this year Mr Patel sold booze to a 15-year-old, and police again found an open can of alcohol behind the counter while the cigarettes had been left exposed, which is against the law.

And on another occasion a 16-year-old test purchaser was served alcohol by Mr Patel.

Police who attended the scene said “he was under the influence of alcohol and was in fact drunk, his breath smelt of alcohol, his behaviour was odd, he couldn’t speak properly, he wasn’t able to understand what we were trying to tell him, albeit simple instructions, he was also insisting that the person he sold the alcohol to was Polish and had provided a Polish ID.”

Again, an open can of alcohol was observed behind the counter.

The police have brought forward a review of the licence, which the city council’s licensing committee will decide on within the next two months.

Concluding their report, the police say: “As this is a family-run business, coupled with the gravity of this failed test purchase incident, the evidence of continued drinking by Mr Kamalnayn Patel, which has been recorded over a considerable amount of time, police have no faith that Mr Patel will not continue to drink whilst working within the shop or also to be a key factor in this business.

"Therefore the licence needs to be revoked for the sale of alcohol because Mr Patel, being the head of the family, the current premises licence holder and designated premises supervisor will still be in a position to work at the shop.”

Mr Patel refused to speak to the Daily Echo.