Sussex police take tough stance on underage sales
Publicans in Sussex caught serving underage customers will face tough penalties under a crackdown by the area's police force.
The announcement was made by chief constable Ken Jones (pictured), who will become president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in April next year.
Licensees across the country will be anxious to see how the initiative is carried forward as similar action could become more widespread when the chief constable takes over at ACPO.
The crackdown will last until the New Year and is part of a campaign to target yob behaviour and its causes. Police will increase their monitoring of pubs, devoting more manpower to targeted patrols and gathering video evidence.
They will use powers provided under the new licensing laws to temporarily close pubs down and follow it up if necessary with prosecutions.
Chief Constable Jones told The Publican: "This is a new era, a new regulated era, and it brings with it opportunities for communities to redress the balance where historically it's been very difficult to get a grip on badly run places.
"The vast majority of pubs tow the line and take their social responsibility very seriously. This is about the minority who don't. We will do whatever is necessary to make sure the badly run places don't export their costs out to the street, to the A & E and to the police.
The crackdown has been met with mixed reaction from the trade. The Federation of Licensed Victuallers (FLVA) praised the initiative but bemoaned the tendency to fall back on alcohol as a scapegoat for crime. FLVA chief executive Tony Payne said: "It's something we need to support. It's important that licensees are under pressure to check people are not underage.
"Alcohol is always presented as the problem though. If someone goes and smashes a window, their solicitor always says 'that's not his usual character. It's because of the alcohol.' It's always there as an excuse."
Some Sussex licensees admitted that the area needed tougher monitoring. Roger Jackson, of the Angelsey Arms, Halnaker, East Sussex, said: "There are pubs round here where a proportion of customers are underage."
Kevin Wright, licensee of the Woolpack, Hailsham, also in East Sussex, saw it as a response to the media furore over the licensing reforms: "The media has placed the vast majority of pubs in with the exceptions that are damaging the trade's reputation, and Ken Jones is reacting to that."
