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Flint Bishop advise on changes to the underage sales of alcohol
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A recent crack down on stores selling to minors saw only one out of 45 shops failing the undercover test. In the light of these highly encouraging statistics, Andrew Cochrane, partner and head of commercial dispute resolution from Flint Bishop, asks what else can other retailers do to ensure that they don’t fall foul of the new legislation.
The Policing and Crime Act 2009 has now brought in the ‘two strikes and you’re out’ legislation. The offence of persistently selling alcohol to children has gone from the previous three underage sales in three months to just two. In the context of other areas of the country, results in Derby have been particularly pleasing and represent a substantial improvement on the situation that existed until a few years ago. Much of the credit for this must go to the Licensees themselves, who have worked hard to ensure that they have the proper procedures in place to prevent underage sales.
The result of this new legislation is that if a seller is cautioned, convicted or accepts a fixed penalty notice, or other evidence of a sale of alcohol to a person under the age of eighteen twice in a three month period at the same premises, the premises faces closure in addition to the premises licence holder incurring a substantial fine.
Trading Standards will be actively seeking out the perpetrators by sending out individuals under the age of eighteen as a test to see if purchasers are asked for identification.
Businesses are advised to assess their due diligence by enforcing such procedures as adopting a Challenge 21 training scheme, operating a procedure for requesting ID and refusals log, and finally, considering sending staff on a course to obtain their own personal licence to sell alcohol.
A debate will no doubt ensue regarding the semantics of saying ‘persistently selling alcohol’ as it is new in the Statute book and there has been insufficient time to prove its effectiveness.
This law has now been passed regardless so it is up to the licensee to ensure that they do everything they possibly can to maintain good practices whilst selling alcohol.
From October 2010, a mandatory condition will be implemented stating that all licensed premises selling alcohol will be required to have a policy in place to verify the age of customers to prevent underage sales. By putting Challenge 21 or 25 in place now, licenses will be ready for this new piece of legislation.
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