Officers from Lancaster Police’s licensing and exploitation teams visited a total of 21 businesses in Lancaster and Morecambe over three evenings (26th, 27th and 28th October 2022), after receiving intelligence about the poor running of various premises.
The operation, named Op Pigeon, is a multi-agency approach and was also attended by Immigration Officers, licensing teams from Lancaster Council, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, British Gas and Environmental Health.
Three premises were found to have tampered with their gas meters, and one premises employed a male who could not legally work in the UK. Other premises involved environmental health and council licensing issues.
Licensing Officer Andrew Taylor from Lancaster Police said: “Part of my role is to ensure all licensed premises are trading in accordance with their licence and their premise is safe.
“Operations like this are really worthwhile, as it allows all agencies to check compliance on a range of matters such as licensing, immigration, food standards, illegal use of gas and electric and modern slavery.
“Rest assured any premises that found to be committing offences are dealt with through the various agencies with possible prosecutions and, in some cases, a license review.
“If anyone has any information relating to any of these matters in local takeaways, you can contact Crimestoppers in confidence by calling 0800 555 111, or email myself at [email protected].”
Councillor Colin Hartley, Chair of Lancaster City Council’s Licensing Committee, said: “Operation Pigeon involved the inspection of numerous premises with a late-night refreshment licence (hot food served between 11pm-5am) across the Lancaster City Council district.
“Our teams visited premises to ensure that they were aware of their responsibilities under the Licensing Act, that they were adhering to legal requirements and compliant with the conditions of their individual licence.
“Minor breaches were found, and our officers have since made returned visits to premises which were found to be non-compliant.”