Summer crackdown on under-age sale of alcohol

A SUMMER, county-wide crackdown on the underage sale of alcohol has been jointly launched by the Oxfordshire Safer Communities Partnership.
This follows continued problems found in recent test purchasing campaigns in the county – including Thame where five out of eleven premises were caught serving alcohol to 14 year-olds in May this year.

Thames Valley Police’s Licensing Manager for Oxfordshire, Tony Cope, said: ?This test purchasing operation is just the start of the partnership?s summer campaign to tackle underage and irresponsible drinking.
“During the summer holidays more teenagers are tempted to hang out in parks and drink alcohol. Posters will be sent to licensed premises across the county to warn young people the dangers of alcohol, highlight to adults that it is an offence to buy alcohol for people under the age of 18 and lastly, target and educate licensed premises about the consequences of selling alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 and serving people who are already under the influence of alcohol.
?Alcohol can sometimes lead to violent behaviour and sexual assaults. Officers across the county will be out in force this summer in the town centres in a bid to prevent any of these crimes taking place.?

Licensed businesses across the county have been sent a resource pack containing information about asking customers for proof of age and the implications of selling alcohol to anyone the age of 18. This will be followed by a two-week test purchasing blitz across Oxfordshire, focusing on retail outlets.

Oxfordshire County Council Trading Standards Group Manager, Richard Webb, said: ?The first phase of this operation is about giving traders who sell alcohol all the necessary information, so there can be no excuses for falling foul of the licensing laws.
“The exercise is as much about raising awareness of the issue of underage alcohol sales as it is about rooting out irresponsible traders.”

The information packs contain a video titled ‘no proof of age – no sale’. There are also training materials on a CD which can be printed off by independent retailers, including refusals books, staff tests and training record sheets. Posters warning children they could be fined