Police use 'drunk' actors in pub sting

Actors pretending to be inebriated, with their clothes soaked in alcohol, have been used in mock stings targeting sales to drunks.

They were served at all 10 pubs targeted during the police operation in Bexley, Kent.

Chief Inspector Steve Murrant said: "They were leaning on the bar saying, 'I'm hammered'. They were dropping money. We had undercover officers at the bar and the actors were bumping into them. They all got served."

Murrant said no action would be taken against the pubs as no law had been broken. But he warned of future operations targeting sales to drunks, particularly during the World Cup.

The actors repeated their performances in front of around 100 licensees at a seminar. Murrant said all licensees claimed they wouldn't serve them.

The policeman explained his plans for the World Cup.

"I'm going to proactively send officers to pubs. Their brief will be if they see drunks in any premises they will take action.

"I will seize CCTV if need be. I will make arrests if need be. This is a friendly warning that we need to work together."

Scott Mackenzie, manager of the Blue Anchor in Bexley, said he understood the need for the campaign, but urged police to focus on supermarkets.

"In my carpark, every day we have to clear up bottles of this and that, which people drank before they came to the pub. It works out at

70p per pint. I think they should tackle that as well as the pubs."

Murrant said licensees blamed supermarkets at the seminar. "They seem to have missed the point," he said.

"Off-licences are a different issue and there are different challenges to work with. It's a defence mechanism to try and off-load the blame."

Murrant expected to repeat the operation using actors in the future.