Alcohol is the drug of choice amongst many of the young, often drinking so much they are oblivious of the consequences and the risks associated with underage drinking.
Nationally each year it is estimated approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes deaths from road traffic collisions, suicides and from other injuries such as falls, burns and drownings after binge drinking.
With binge drinking starting earlier and earlier now, officers in the East Riding are determined to stop alcohol being readily available to youngsters.
Humberside Police regularly carry out underage test purchasing operations in pubs, off licenses and restaurants in a bid to ensure all licensed premises adhere to the licensing laws.
In October 2010 an off-licence in Driffield, an off-licence in Hornsea, a pub in Beverley and a restaurant in Beverley were all tested.
14-year-old girls and boys were used to attempt to buy alcohol; with the permission of their parents and guardians.
The 14-year-olds, who must not make any attempts to ‘dress up’ and make themselves appear older are asked to enter either a specific off-licence, public house or restaurant and if successful, purchase alcohol.
If a sale is made to the child a police officer who is supervising the operation, will then take the alcohol and give the staff member who served the child a fixed penalty ticket of £80 under the Licensing Act 2003.
Under the Licensing Act; a licensed premise can only inadvertently sell to an under aged person twice in three months, before Humberside Police will review the premises license to sell alcohol.
Once the sale of alcohol is made to a child, as well as the staff member receiving a fine, Humberside Police will look at the procedures, policies and staff training provided at that licensed premises to help the business adhere to the law. If any improvements can be made to staff training or procedures, licensing officers from Humberside Police will work with the business to prevent them making the same mistake again.
The two off-licenses, restaurant and pub which were all tested in October were re-visited using another set of 14-year-olds on Friday 10 December and did not sell to any of the children.
Licensing Officer PC Carolyn Grundy from Beverley Police Station said: “I am very pleased to say that we have never had to suspend or close a licensed premise following a test purchase operation. Every East Riding licensed premises which has been visited under the operation and sold to children the first time, when revisited have never sold to our children.
“This is due to the fact that when a pub, restaurant or off-license sells to one of our children; we give feedback to the owner of the licensed premises straight away and work with the company to ensure this does not happen again.
“All the licensed premises in the East Riding are invited to be part of something called ‘Pub-watch’. I am pleased to say nearly all are. Pub watch is a group which get together monthly with the police, at the meeting, licensees can collectively ban prolific trouble makers, share ideas, reduce violence and become closer by working together on any emerging issues like drink spiking etc.
“At the Pub watch meetings, the licensees know and fully support the idea Humberside Police will use a variety of tactics to ensure they are adhering to the licensing laws and run an identification policy.
“Often test purchasing carried out in the East Riding is done jointly with Trading Standards.”
Licensees must have an ID policy; the majority of licensees ask for ID if someone looks under 21 years old. If you are unsure a person is legally old enough to buy alcohol, it is the responsibility of that person serving the alcohol to ask for identification.
Licensees should only accept ‘pass approved’ forms of identification which include photographic driving licenses and passports.
Humberside Police must ensure licensees are complying with the age restrictions set by law and if they are not, they will be dealt with accordingly.
