The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) has issued a “first strike” against a Korean restaurant in Sydney after staff dumped two unconscious female patrons on the street after letting them drink 16 shots of spirits within 40 minutes.
Gangnam Station Korean restaurant in Sussex St is facing a range of sanctions due to the incident, which the authority has labelled “one of the worst breaches of liquor laws in NSW in recent years”.
Director of Compliance Operations Sean Goodchild said the venue’s actions showed a blatant disregard for the health and safety of patrons and responsible service of alcohol requirements.
“It’s hard to imagine a worse case of a venue failing in its obligations to prevent misuse and abuse of alcohol,” Goodchild said.
The Authority heard evidence from a detailed police report which stated that three women entered the restaurant at 7.55pm on 9 November last year and ordered shots of soju.
After each patron drank their eighth shot at around 8.35pm, two collapsed forward and became unconscious. Subsequently staff and other patrons carried the two women out of the restaurant and dumped them on the footpath. One of the women vomited while being carried.
Fortunately for the women there was a Police patrol nearby, which noticed people gathered around the unconscious women and they called an ambulance that took the two women to hospital.
The Authority has imposed a “first strike” on the restaurant’s licensee, Ms Sunhwa Kim, under the NSW Government’s Three Strikes disciplinary scheme. Licensees with strikes face a range of remedial action and those incurring three strikes can have their licences suspended or be permanently banned from the industry.
The Authority is also proposing to reduce Gangnam Station’s closing time from 2am to midnight and require it to have a security guard trained in the responsible service of alcohol on the premises from 8pm each night.
NSW Police has fined the restaurant $2200 for permitting intoxication, and Liquor & Gaming NSW is considering taking further action.