Retailers are Getting the Message and Asking for ID
More retailers are asking for proof of age ID before selling alcohol. This is the experience of Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Officers, and is good news in their bid to help reduce alcohol fueled nuisance youth crime.
An undercover enforcement exercise in the North Warwickshire and Nuneaton areas conducted on 25th May 2006 revealed that of the 22 supermarkets, convenience stores, and corner shops visited, only one sold an alcoholic drink to a 14 year old female volunteer.
Mark Ryder, Head of Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service said:
‘I am delighted that the message is getting through to retailers of the importance of asking for proof of age before deciding whether to sell alcohol.
I applaud those retailers who are being responsible, by asking for ID, keeping a refusals register, displaying warning notices and providing good training for their staff.
Fostering a retail culture whereby ID is appropriately requested as a matter of course is something we have been trying to achieve, and I am very pleased that we are now seeing some results.’
Further investigations are now continuing to determine why a store located in Attleborough sold alcohol to a child.
Earlier this year almost one hundred people attended Licensee seminars organised by the Trading standards Service in Leamington Spa and Bedworth. The main aim of the seminars, which were free to licensees and their staff, was to help them comply with the law. More are now planned together with further enforcement exercises.
In 2005, 25 premises were visited in the North Warwickshire and Nuneaton areas and five sales were made, (two in Nuneaton and three in North Warwickshire).