Off licenses in Stratford pass the test
Ten off licences in the Stratford area have been subjected to a test purchase operation in the past week as Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards joined forces to combat under age drinking.
The operation involved young people under the age of 18 attempting to buy alcohol in the shops, which included supermarkets, in Stratford and Tiddington.
All ten passed the test, with none of the young people being sold alcohol.
Inspector Patrick Devereux said: "This is an excellent result and we commend the off licenses for their responsible attitude.
"We often experience problems with children and youths who are under the influence of alcohol, so the results of this operation are really encouraging, though we intend to conduct further operations across the district in the coming months."
Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, portfolio holder for Community Protection added: "Under age drinking is a very serious problem for many of our communities and can have serious knock-on effects in terms of alcohol fuelled crime and nuisance behaviour as well as upon health issues.
"We continually work with our retail community to educate them on the measures they need to take to prevent illegal alcohol sales to children and young people, such as displaying signs, asking for proof of age and keeping a refusals record.
"I am delighted that this recent work has shown that retailers are taking their responsibility seriously and not selling alcohol to children or young people under the age of 18.
"We will continue to work with our Police partners to reduce illegal alcohol sales."
Warwickshire Police is cracking down on alcohol related violence during the festive season, as part of its commitment to protecting people from harm.
The focus is on incidents believed to be fuelled by alcohol, with a number of initiatives planned including extra policing of town centres, a seminar in Leamington to enlist the support of licensees and targeted communications towards potential offenders.
For more information, visit our website:
http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards.