A SHOP owner who stocked potentially lethal bottles of toxic vodka has been fined.

Officers from Newcastle City Council's Public Health and Environmental Protection department visited the Value Centre, in Newcastle, and found the counterfeit spirit on sale.

Shop owner Amir Gulzar, of Shields Road, Newcastle, was fined £1,000 when he admitted two charges of selling vodka unfit for human consumption, at Gosforth Magistrates' Court.

The court heard how a female customer became ill after she drank the Original Vodka Russia Export Quality.

The woman, in her 50s, required hospital treatment.

Officers bought a bottle from Gulzar, and tests revealed it contained methanol, a toxic substance that can cause stomach pains, dizziness, blurred vision or blindness.

Gulzar told the court the vodka was part of stock already at the shop when he bought the business.

He was also ordered to pay £300 costs.

Doug Fox, the council's food safety manager said: "This was a very serious incident.

"We get a lot of complaints about counterfeit vodka, but the toxic levels in this particular bottle were among the highest we usually find. If enough is drunk, it can be lethal.

"If we catch shopkeepers selling counterfeit substances which endanger the public, we will not hesitate to prosecute."