A MARCH off-licence was temporarily banned from selling alcohol following an inquiry into serving drunks and under-age drinkers.

Pc Phil Richardson moved against the Buzz Plus supermarket near March town bridge on Friday but after giving them the weekend to improve returned on Monday and forced alcohol sales to stop.

He said checks had “flagged up some poor practices and breaches of the licence and on Friday the management were spoken to.” They were given until 10am on Monday “to come up to an acceptable standard”.

Pc Richardson said: “I re-attended with the local licensing officer and things did not meet satisfactory conditions and therefore a closure notice has been served on the shop.

“It means that they cannot sell alcohol until they have ensured that they are in a position to fully comply with the terms of their alcohol licence.”

The order didn’t force the shop to close completely, he said, but it did mean they could not display or sell alcohol.

“This is a really tough measure and not taken lightly,” he said. “However I am committed to ensuring that the shop brings itself to the standard of other shops who maintain high standards and responsible selling.”

He added: “We do not want to disrupt anyone’s business however; if you do not comply with your licence then you can expect a visit from us.

“We will be taking complaints about selling to underage people or to drunken people very seriously. Enforcement action is always a possibility if we are unable to work with premises.”

The banning order is being reviewed daily and at the time of going to press senior police officers and representatives from Fenland Council were due to visit the off licence.