Lichfield residents around the Shell petrol station on Tamworth road are rightly concerned about an application to sell alcohol 24hrs a day from the station. It’s a mainly residential area which has no need for every waif and stray in Lichfield descending on it in the early hours of every morning to buy and consume alcohol. Most people like a drink, or several, but having someone serving it on your doorstep at all hours of the day is unacceptable.
I wish them luck with their fight, because it will be a fight. I have first-hand experience of LDC’s Licensing Committee and found that they couldn’t care less about local objections and will probably be quite offended that these residents dare to make them sit on a committee and be forced to give them bad news. Licensing Committees are there to make sure that licenses are granted wherever possible but they do have the power to refuse and refusals can and do stand up at appeal. I believe our committee lacks the courage to use that power for the benefit of its residents since it is just easier to issue a license.
It has been brought to my attention that a telephone scam is currently targeting local residents. A friend called to ask why Microsoft were calling her, telling her that her PC was infected with spyware and to follow their instructions to install software to fix it. She refused and the caller kept calling back getting more and more aggressive. Fortunately, I am aware of this scam as it has been used around the world in the last year or so.
