POLICE have issued a notice to a Taunton shop selling so-called legal highs compelling it to stop trading immediately until a magistrates’ court hearing scheduled for Monday (December 8).

At the hearing Avon and Somerset Constabulary will apply for an order to keep the shop Hush, in Bridge Street, closed for up to three months based on what they describe as the amount of serious nuisance and disorder across the town.

Somerset Area Superintendent, Ian Wylie, signed the notice.

He said: “We believe that securing this order will help end the anti-social behaviour which has been associated with Hush’s selling of legal highs.

“My Taunton Town Centre officers and PCSOs have spent a lot of their time policing the problems caused by legal high abuse, and have worked hard to compile the evidence needed to justify the closure order.”

The notice and order uses powers contained in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and this is the first time it has been used in the Avon and Somerset Police area.

Only the property’s owner and anyone living there are allowed on the premises whilst the notice is active, and similar restrictions apply during the closure order.