Raven Tattoo inks its last tattoos after licence cancelled due to bikie links
IT’S the end of an era for Raven Tattoo. After more than 20 years, the Liverpool tattoo parlour has closed up shop after the Department of Fair Trading cancelled its operating licence.
Southwest
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IT’S the end of an era for Raven Tattoo. After more than 20 years, the Liverpool tattoo parlour has closed up shop after the Department of Fair Trading cancelled its operating licence due to family links to an outlaw motorcycle gang.
Violette Petro, 78, held the licence until May, when she received a letter, stating they had seven days left of trading.
Since then it’s been a mad scramble. Its closure is still impacting the family run business.
A total of four operator and eight tattooist licences have been cancelled across the state since a 2013 law cracked down on the tattoo industry.
Ms Petro started the business with her two daughters Suzanne Hardy and Angela Mogus, to bring the family together and to have something to pass on to their children in the future.
Mrs Mogus declared to NSW Police when she applied for her tattoo licence two years ago that her husband was part of a motorcycle gang.
She received a letter cancelling her individual tattoo licence.
“At no point did they tell me that was going to be an issue. Now I feel like I’ve wasted the last couple of years and have nothing to show for it,” she said.
“I think it’s wrong we’re being punished for being married to a member of a motorcycle gang. He has nothing to do with Raven, that was something mum, Suzanne and I had together.”
Ms Hardy said the hardest part of the closure had been the impact on their elderly mother who has dementia.
“Mum was receiving a wage from the shop and has never received a pension,” she said.
“It’s really affected her health.
“We weren’t just a tattoo studio. People came here to commemorate something that happened in their life or honour surviving an illness.”
Ms Hardy said their Railway St location was a place of healing for many people and they often dug into their own pocket if people in the community needed a hand with groceries or the family.
“It’s just what you do when you’re part of a community,” Ms Hardy said.
“Closing the shop feels like I’ve lost a child. I’ve put everything into it.”
A Fair Trading spokeswoman said they check the background of every licence applicant, as well as their close associates.
Fair Trading is the licensing authority for the tattooing industry and NSW Police check the background of every licence applicant, as well as their close associates.
“I didn’t think it would ever come to this,” Ms Hardy said.
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