A shop chain has been fined £3,000 after it admitted selling an 18-certificate video to a 13-year-old girl.
Virgin Retail pleaded guilty at Teesside Magistrates' Court, on Tuesday, to selling spoof horror Scary Movie to the teenager at its Middlesbrough store.
The case was brought by Middlesbrough Council trading standards department after an undercover operation on August 8 last year.
Angela Gray, prosecuting, said the girl was not asked her age or for proof of age when she bought the £13.99 video at the Virgin store in Captain Cook Square.
She said Virgin received a formal caution in 1999 for a similar incident in Surrey.
Chairman of the magistrates James Hamilton described Virgin's staff training procedures as "woefully inadequate" before fining the company £3,000 plus £1,084 costs.
Trading standards group leader John Wells said after the verdict that two other stores in Middlesbrough had refused to sell the girl a video on the same day.
After the hearing, a Virgin Retail spokesman said: "Virgin Retail takes incidents of this nature very seriously. All employees, including temps, are taken through the Video Standards Council training pack. We accept the court's ruling and we are working to enhance the systems we have in place."
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