Meeting under-age targets

Related tags Under-age sales Crime

Now that the Government has published figures showing that the repeated blitzes on under-age sales have had the desired effect and that anyone under...

Now that the Government has published figures showing that the repeated blitzes on under-age sales have had the desired effect and that anyone under the age of around 35 is being challenged or asked for ID, it is time for it to undertake a second round of stings.

May I suggest that it turns its attention to the thousands of young people in the UK who regularly buy or attempt to buy alcohol as "a bit of a lark". I spoke to a group of teenagers the other week and was not surprised to find them full of bravado, boasting of their alcohol intake and completely oblivious to the effect their actions have on licensees they put to the test.

They would not, of course, behave like this if they were in front of some other authority such as their headmaster or the police. But informally they are happy to confess to obtaining alcohol. When I pointed out that it was, in fact, a criminal offence, they seemed indifferent and in one case disbelieving.

I sincerely hope that the new BII initiative for school-aged children gives them pause for thought, but I have long been of the view that a few timely and well-publicised prosecutions could have the desired effect in a much shorter timescale. I am not given to right-wing rants, as my friends know, but I have watched with some distress as well-intentioned licensees have been trapped and criminalised in the push to prove that under-age sales are rife.

In my view, the success of the campaign is only because the trade has had to adopt stringent measures and ridiculously high age limits (is Challenge 21 anything to do with under-18s?) in order to be seen to comply with the Government's objectives.

I agree with last week's letter writer that the licensed trade is being demonised because this blame culture has developed in the UK. It is easier to target the trade: the police do not like to be seen to be prosecuting youngsters. It has been more or less forgotten that there is already a criminal offence in attempting to buy alcohol, so the request itself, caught on CCTV, is actionable.

Will they do it? Will one of my police readers tell me why not? I know you are out there.