Gas Station Owner Fined after Board of Health Violation ~ Tobacco Sale to Minor

April 22, 2022

The proprietor of a local business blames the Covid-19 pandemic for a violation that he says will cost him thousands of dollars.

Farrukh Chaudhry, owner of Great Road Gulf, told the Board of Health last week during a virtual public hearing that an unqualified employee was caught selling a tobacco product to an underage purchaser.

The owner asked for relief from the penalty of a $1,000 fine and two-week suspension of his tobacco sales permit. But the board said its hands are tied because state and local regulations don’t allow for exceptions.

“Due to the shortage of a good labor force right now, I am spending close to 12 hours of work myself and am hiring people who we wouldn’t have considered five years ago,” Chaudhry told the board. “I never thought I would be in a situation I am in right now.”

Get The Bedford Citizen in your inbox!



The immediate and residual impact could reach $30,000, he said. “We are selling about $1,000 a day. But more important, this is also going to affect the traffic we established over the years – those effects linger way beyond those two weeks. The customer has thousands of other options; that relationship we have with regular customers is going to be broken.”

He added that just removing the inventory will take four or five people three to five hours.

Katharine Dagle, assistant health director, said the violation occurred on March 7. That was the day Ian Worstell, regional tobacco control compliance officer, sent an 18-year-old buyer into each of Bedford’s six outlets that sell tobacco products. The legal age for purchase is 21.

She explained that at Great Road Gulf, the buyer was asked for identification, which he failed to produce. Nevertheless, she said, he purchased a package of cigarillos.

State and local regulations require a $1,000 fine and suspension of the sales permit for 14 days, which means removal of all tobacco products from the premises.

Chaudhry, who said he has operated the business for 16 years, told the board, “I consider myself a productive part of the Bedford community.” Because of the pandemic, he continued, “The bar for hiring has been lowered drastically.”

On March 7, he related, the employee at the register was on his second day of work, and a trainer scheduled to work with him had called in sick. The owner called the situation “a perfect storm. We have taken steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The penalty is “going to hurt us drastically,” Chaudhry testified. He said when explaining the situation to customers, “it’s going to make me look really bad. When we applied for our license, we established ourselves as someone who is responsible.”

Some board members were sympathetic. “Ann Kiessling asked about some kind of variance, but Dagle said there are no provisions for mitigation of an enforcement action. Heidi Porter, director of health and human services, added that staff consulted with town counsel.

Member Maureen Richichi also wondered if the board has ever adjusted penalties for circumstances. Dagle said she checked with the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards and “we are not allowed to do this.’

“We spent a year on these and we went through a hearing process,” said member Anita Raj. “It is intended to be impactful. I really apologize but part of the business is making certain everybody gets carded. It is a permit for the sale of sensitive product.”

The one concession the board felt it could make was to allow Chaudhry to choose the two weeks during which he felt he could best weather the suspension. However, they set a deadline of May 31. “In the past we have been able to work with owners on the dates,” said Bea Brunkhorst.

Chaudhry was primarily contrite, but not totally. Many towns issue only a warning after the first violation, he said. “If there were weaknesses in our practices, I feel a warning or a fine should have sufficed. I feel it’s very unjust, especially when all businesses are reeling from Covid.”

“I’m losing sleep over this literally. Every small business should be given a chance to fix an issue rather than finding out the harshest way. I understand it’s in the regulations, but we are in unprecedented times.” He asked the board to consider reducing the suspension to one week.

He also was unhappy about “the way I was treated,” which he said was “very embarrassing. I got served a notice twice… I feel like there should have been a better way of handling this situation.”

Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Subscribe
Notify of

1 Comment
Newest
Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
April 25, 2022 11:31 am

If it is true that some towns issue only a warning after the first violation then it seems state and local regulation might allow for some liniency?

All Stories

What’s Bedford Thinking about the Red Sox?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Junior Landscaping
Go toTop