Plans for a post office in Charlton to start selling booze have been blasted by police after a member of staff reportedly affiliated with the business sold a vape to a child.

Charlton Traders Limited has applied to run a convenience store in the post office on Charlton Church Lane.

The licence would allow the post office to sell booze from 10am until 10pm between Monday and Saturday, with sales ending at 8pm on Sundays.

A previous application to open a convenience store at the post office was considered by Greenwich Council in April and ultimately refused.

A trading standards officer for the council claimed that the applicant for the previous proposal, Akmal Hussain, had worked at another shop on the road and oversaw the sale of a vape to a 14-year-old during a test purchase carried out in January this year.

Mr Hussain had reportedly not provided any training to the seller, who was in sole control of the store at the time of the sale.

Police claimed at the time that they had ‘no confidence’ in Mr Hussain upholding the licensing objectives of the new store planned at the post office.

A licensing officer from the Greenwich Metropolitan Police team claimed they had concerns that Mr Hussain would be working at the post office if the latest licence was granted, despite the individual not being named in the new application.

The officer said: “Neither Mr Akmal Hussain as an individual, nor any company with which he is associated either now or in the future, shall be involved in the running of the premises in any capacity whatsoever, directly or indirectly.”

Labour Councillor Jo van den Broek, who represents the Charlton Village and Riverside ward, also made an objection to the proposal.

She claimed the new application was identical to the one which was refused in April.

She claimed that Mr Hussain would still be working at the post office and she was worried further problems relating to the sale of prohibited items to minors would arise.

The application will be considered by Greenwich Council on August 12, having received 14 objections from locals.

However, council documents said the applicant attached a petition signed by 242 people supporting the plans for the convenience store.

The post office would also reportedly have a CCTV system in place as well as an incident record.

The applicant added: “All staff will receive annual refresher training as a minimum and records are to be kept of this refresher training which should be signed and dated by the member of staff who received that training.”