One of the risks posed in selling alcohol is the possibility of a sale to someone who is under age – either directly or by way of a proxy sale.
Test purchasing is frequently carried out by the Police and Trading Standards officers with enforcement action following for those who are found to sell to those under the age of 18. It is vitally important to ask for age verification ID before selling to anyone who is suspected to be under age. To introduce a safety margin, schemes such as “Challenge 21” or “Challenge 25” are promoted so that ID is requested from anyone who seems to be under the age of 21 or 25 respectively.
Some forms of identification are not necessarily reliable and others are often counterfeited. The Home Office has produced guidance on fake ID which can be downloaded here.
Proxy sales are much more difficult to detect unless you are acutely aware of what happens immediately outside of your premises. Adults can sometimes be persuaded by children to purchase alcohol on their behalf and if this occurs at some distance from your premises, it can be difficult to prevent.
We provide training materials and draft policies to clients which will assist in preventing an underage sale and avoiding the possibility that the licence is revoked or a prosecution taken.
If you should fail a test purchase, contact one of our licensing solicitors for urgent advice. We operate an initial fixed fee arrangement for this advice which could potentially save your licence and reduce any fine.
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