Host fined record £9,000 for spirit substitutions

A Leicestershire host has been fined a record £9,000 for selling cheaper spirits as well-known brands of gin, vodka and rum.

The Bell Inn at Market Har-borough was caught selling Stalingrad vodka in Smirnoff bottles, White Diamond rum in Bacardi bottles, and Grosvenor gin in Gordon's gin bottles, during a routine inspection by trading standards in March.

The brands were sold at £1.70 per serving.

Bell Inn licensee Ghassan Fakih admitted three charges of breaching the 1990 Food Safety Act by selling goods that were not what they were claimed to be.

He was fined £3,000 for each offence and ordered to pay £607.24 costs when he appeared at Harborough Magistrates Court.

Magistrate Pat Middleton told Fakih that he would have been fined £4,500 per offence if he had not pleaded guilty.

Middleton added: "These offences were a deliberate and significant fraud on the public at large."

A spokesman for the Inter-national Federation of Spirit Producers (IFSP) said that licensees can be fined up to £5,000 for each offence and fines are usually around £500. He believed this was the highest fine for "passing off" so far.

He added: "The vast majority of landlords run excellent businesses and ensure that their customers are served what they ask for and pay for, but there is still a small minority that think they can get away with this fraudulent activity. Hopefully, continuing inspections by trading standards and fines of this level will deter the remaining offenders."

A survey carried out by the IFSP in November 1999 found that "passing off" occurred in one in 12 outlets - the rate is one in 50 today.