A SHOP could be forced to hand over its alcohol licence after selling counterfeit cigarettes and attempting to make false statements about an illegal worker.

Park Lane Food and Wine in Tilehurst will be challenged by the council's Licensing team at a hearing on March 8 after a series of breaches and illegal activity at the store.

A joint operation with Thames Valley Police and Immigration Enforcement in November 2017 found a 41-year-old Pakistani man had been working illegally for more than a year and he was removed from the premises.

When the owner - Purvi Patwa - was challenged about the offence, he claimed the man was on training and had only been working there for a week. He also admitted that no right to work checks had been carried out.

However, council officers noted that the illegal worker had signed a form during a routine food hygiene inspection one year earlier and no explanation has been given to the council regarding the false statements.

Acting on complaints, the council's Trading Standards team carried out a separate inspection in October 2017 and seized 17 packets of counterfeit cigarettes.

Richard French, from the council's Licensing team, said: "The selling of any counterfeit goods is particularly dangerous as there can be no guarantee what is inside them, potentially making them extremely hazardous to human health.

"Counterfeit cigarettes, such as the ones seized, cannot be purchased through the legitimate supply chain. No explanation has been received as to where they came from.

"We now know that the statement given about the illegal worker only working at the premises for a week was false.

"Allowing this premises to continue to operate with the benefit of a premises licence will merely serve to perpetuate the criminal activity and human exploitation already apparent from the findings of the licensing authority."

Further concerns were raised by council staff over inadequate staff training and poor CCTV system, which had the incorrect time.

Records of refusal to sell booze were also substandard, with staff simply writing 'white boy' or 'Asian boy' in the log book.

Park Lane Food and Wine also failed a Challenge 25 test purchase on an 18-year-old in July 2015, one month after the current owner is believed to have taken charge.