A shop has been banned from selling alcohol after a 14-year-old boy was left unresponsive following a binge on vodka sold to underage friends.

Girls as young as 13 bought Smirnoff and pre-mixed cocktails from the Canterbury Lane Convenience Store before heading to the city’s Dane John Gardens for a gathering.

It was there that paramedics were later called to help the heavily intoxicated boy, with investigations quickly establishing where the youngsters had purchased the booze.

Police applied for a review of the shop’s licence following the incident in December, accusing it of showing “complete disregard to the safety and wellbeing of children” and making no effort to follow Challenge 25 guidelines.

Canterbury City Council’s licensing sub-committee met on Wednesday and was shown CCTV of the alcohol being sold to girls aged 13 and 15 just minutes apart.

The shop’s owner and designated premises supervisor, Ali Gun, attended the meeting at the city’s Guildhall and confirmed the member of staff on duty had since been sacked, adding it was unclear why she had approved the sale.

Mr Gun’s lawyer, Michael Kheng, said: “We don’t deny the sale took place to persons under 18. Mr Gun really does apologise that this incident took place and that the staff member failed in her duties.

“The premises were not on the radar of police or Trading Standards and I think they would tell you they probably have a list of outlets on their radar.

“In Mr Gun’s defence, he had the training in place before and he’s brought in an additional level of training to try and prevent this from happening.

“But at the end of the day, we are reliant on one person who, for whatever reason that we don’t know, was not implementing what she was trained to do.”

Despite the apology, efforts to separate Mr Gun from the actions of the rogue employee were not received well by those lobbying for action.

Mr Kheng had attempted to liken the situation to stealing the car of committee chairman Cllr Mike Bland and driving it down the motorway at high speed, asking who would be in trouble for such an act.

It was a comment that was greeted with disbelief by the police and Trading Standards officials in attendance.

Concerns over staff training and registering refused sales were also flagged, despite the efforts of Mr Gun to highlight the steps taken to prevent reoccurrences.

It was queried why the staff member had not asked the first set of teenagers for ID, while it was suggested the second girl had simply shown a fake ID on her phone.

Challenge 25 states anyone who appears to be under the age of 25 should be asked for a valid ID in person.

A Trading Standards officer said it appeared the staff member had either considered the teenagers to be almost twice their age or had not acted appropriately during the sales.

After almost an hour’s deliberation, the committee decided to revoke the shop’s premises licence, which means it will no longer be able to sell alcohol.

Announcing the decision, Cllr Mike Bland said: “After everything that we’ve thought through, we’re wholly minded that there are two objections of licensing that we have to uphold.

“Firstly, we aim to protect children from harm, and secondly, the issue of the prevention of crime and disorder.

“Given our concerns about the extreme seriousness of the consequences of the sale of alcohol to underage minors, the best way of protecting children from harm and preventing crime and disorder is to revoke the licence.”

The revocation will last indefinitely unless a new application is submitted, which would have to be reviewed again by the council.

Mr Gun has 21 days to appeal the decision, which his lawyer says will likely force the store to close.

No action was taken by police against the staff member who sold the alcohol.