Judge's anger at 'epidemic' putting young people at risk
Plus: Lindsay Hoyle criticises government and Tories come to Fylde
Hello and welcome to the 65th edition of The Lancashire Lead. I’ve written some of this newsletter while sat the less-than-luxurious environment that is Court 2 of Lancaster Courthouse.
In future editions, I plan to take a closer look at some of the issues which are affecting our criminal justice system, including cases taking years to be heard while courts sit empty and prison sentences failing to achieve any rehabilitation.
My visit this week was, as is often the case at a magistrates court, a largely frustrating afternoon where relatively little was achieved in the time available - and even that was done at a slow pace. It did however allow me to observe the conviction of a man who opened a convenience store in Lostock Hall, near Preston, but within days was found selling illegal cigarettes, alcohol and tobacco. And then again on two more occasions.
In total, Bryar Sabar pleaded guilty to nine offences - five relating to selling cigarettes or tobacco not in plain packaging, one to selling unsafe vapes and two to selling goods with an imitation trademark.
In an interview with a probation officer, Sabar explained he had set up the business with the plan of making a legitimate living and that he chose to open at Hope Terrace because it had the cheapest rent outside of Manchester. Having arrived seeking asylum in 2019, he had studied English and worked in a restaurant until 2022 and set up the business courtesy of a £5,000 loan from his family in Iraq.
Sabar said that within days of opening the store, a man he did not previously know came in and offered to sell him “cheap cigarettes” and that he was attracted by the chance of a bigger profit.
This would lead to him visiting Manchester to buy knock-off vapes for £400 and selling them in store, blaming his own naivety and failure to understand the law for why he decided to do so. His claims that he didn’t know what he was doing was wrong failed to stand up to scrutiny as the officer explained he could offer no answer when asked why he continued to do so after Trading Standards first seized goods from his shop.
Sentencing, Lancaster’s district judge gave even shorter shrift to Sabar’s plea of ignorance as he pointed to the very real danger that illicit goods can offer. He said:
“There is an epidemic sweeping this country of selling illicit, counterfeit and wrongly packaged cigarettes, tobacco and vapes. These items are often unregulated, wrongly packages and often pose a significant risk to the health of those consume these items.”
He continued:
“Those risks to the young people who purchase them are huge. Between June 2023 and July 2024, you were involves in the sale of these counterfeit, dangerous products. You explained in interviews with Trading Standards and the probation service this was naivety on your part.
“You knew [it was illegal] because you stored those counterfeit items in a different section to the legitimate items in your shops. You have secreted them away so they wouldn’t be immediately obvious to any authorities coming in”.
The judge said Sabar’s guilty pleas were enough to pull him back from handing a custodial sentence and the 24-year-old, of Ripley Close in Manchester, was handed an 18 month community order. As part of that, he must complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities and 180 hours of unpaid work. He was also banned from serving as director of any business for three years.
Attention will turn to the Budget later today and there’ll be plenty of coverage across each of The Lead’s titles - the stable now includes The Teesside Lead which is helmed by Leigh Jones and returned with a bang last week.
I’ll be taking a look at how Lancashire is affected in Sunday’s edition but one high profile figure from the county has already expressed his frustration over how details of Labour’s first budget in more than a decade have been released.
Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle, in his role as Speaker of the House, admonished Chancellor Rachel Reeves for allowing much of the budget to be released through the media before being explained to MPs. He said:
It is evident to me that this should therefore have been made in the first instance in this House and not to the world’s media.
This principle is clearly and unambiguously set out in paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code. While this can hardly be described as a leak - the Chancellor herself gave interviews on the record and on camera - the premature disclosure of the contents of the budget has always been regarded as a supreme discourtesy to the House.
Indeed, I still regard it as such. I am very, very disappointed that the Chancellor expects the House to wait nearly a full week to hear her repeat these announcements in the budget statement on Wednesday.
The issue was frequently raised during Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister and the frustration from the speaker was clearly evident on Monday. He added:
"It's totally unacceptable to go around the world telling everybody rather than these members. They were elected by the constituents of this country and they deserve to be treated better.
"Isn't it funny that when it was the previous party, it was the opposite side that was complaining to me. Get your acts together, all sides, treat members with respect."
Ahead of today’s announcement, BBC Breakfast has been speaking with Burnley business owners about what they expect and want to see announced. The primary takeaway appears to be a nervousness over likely wage and national insurance rises.
Tim Taylor is commercial director at window manufacturer Veka - which employs 420 people in the town - and said the the latter will “affect employers in the long term". He said:
"It won't have an impact on day one on individuals on the shop floor here, but we do have to start planning. The amount of money we're going to invest over here in the next three to five years is colossal, so we've got to have long term growth."
In Blackpool South, MP Chris Webb has warned that many of the resort’s businesses face a “cliff edge” is business rates relief ends as planned in April. In a letter to Reeves, he said:
“From the pandemic to the cost-of-living crisis and with the impact of soaring energy costs, the hospitality sector has faced significant challenges in recent years. It is vital that we do all we can to support them now.
“I know from my own experiences working in hospitality businesses across Blackpool they are the beating heart of coastal towns – creating jobs, generating revenue and bringing communities together.
“It is wrong to make these businesses – which contribute so much – pay more than their fair share. We need to see business rates reform to ease the burden on high streets and ensure Blackpool that businesses can thrive.”
You can read more on The Blackpool Lead.
Elsewhere, the county’s only Conservative constituency received a visit from the woman who could be the party’s next leader. Fylde MP Andrew Snowden was pleased to welcome a visit from Kemi Badenoch who is now in the final two contenders to succeed Rishi Sunak and become the official Leader of the Opposition.
Snowden originally backed Priti Patel for the leadership, only for the former Home Secretary to be knocked out in the early rounds of voting. Badenoch is now the heavy favourite to win the election and is considered almost certain to be announced as winner on Sunday. Sharing news of her visit on social media, Snowden wrote:
“Superb that @KemiBadenoch has been in Fylde today, engaging with over 100 Members at Kirkham Con Club - outlining her plans to renew our party and country.
“If you’ve not yet voted in the leadership election - her conviction and courage are exactly what we need.”
Longer term readers may remember The Lead’s reporting on Smashburger, the American burger chain which had made multiple legal challenges against similarly named businesses operating in UK towns and cities.
Myself and Luke Beardsworth spoke with business owners who said they disgreed with the accusation but felt unable to fight them and were being pursued for money even after changing their businesses name and location or even closing down entirely.
One of those affected was Michael Evans, who ran Smashed in Preston and has since relocated to another unit in the city centre under the new name of All Hopes No Promises.
In a seemingly positive development, Luke reports that the copyright-based legal action has come to an end with a confidential settlement agreed and a costly court hearing avoided. You can read more on Blog Preston.
🍚 In Blackburn, a business owner is baffled over rice being repeatedly dumped outside his premises (Lancashire Telegraph).
🎥 Blackpool Airport bosses are trying to attract TV and movie producers to use it as a filming location (Blackpool Lead).
🚫 A village store which claimed to be a “trusted local hub” has failed in a bid to sell alcohol from 7am amid police concerns (Blog Preston).
💷 A carer who stole more than £2k from the bed-ridden woman she looked after has avoided jail (LancsLive).
Thank you for reading Edition 65 of The Lancashire Lead. If you enjoyed it, please consider taking a paid subscription to support my work and share it so others can find it too. I’ll be back in your inbox with the next edition on Sunday.
