Police and the Regional Medical Officer of Health are pushing to restrict PAK’nSAVE Kilbirnie’s alcohol trading hours. The Wellington store is currently allowed to sell alcohol between 7am and 11pm, but police want the hours cut-off at 10pm, suggesting that the supermarket should take responsibility for several alcohol-related incidents occurring in the area.
The question was posed at the liquor licence hearing on Monday, but PAK’nSAVE pointed out that this measure would not be fair nor useful, because consumers could still buy alcohol from other premises around.
“Unless everyone is on the same page, it’s not going to solve the problem,” said owner-operator Dean Galt.
The PAK’nSAVE store was banned from selling alcohol for five days in June, when a couple of teenagers were allowed to purchase it. According to sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies of Wellington Police, though, the supermarket was also connected to other alcohol-related incidents, and police would not remove its objection to the licence renewal unless the store agreed to the 10pm close-off time.
The case will resume next Tuesday.
POLICE OBJECTING TO PAK’NSAVE’S LIQUOR LICENCE
