CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL BOOZE SALES GOES ON

The drive to ensure shops and off licences are following the letter of the law when it comes to the age limit and alcohol sales is set to continue.

East Sussex County Council's Trading Standards Service and Sussex Police carried out eleven joint operations across the county last year (2005/06) to see if the age limit rules were being followed.

Young volunteers were used by Trading Standards to make 'test' purchases and from 110 attempted purchases, 13 were illegal sales.

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Eight fixed penalties were handed out by the Police as a result of the operations.

Two operations have been carried out with the Police so far this year.

Eighteen test purchases were made and out of those, six illegal sales resulted in five fixed penalties. Trading Standards officers and the Police have promised to carry out more operations throughout 2006/07.

Councillor Bob Tidy, Lead Member for Community Services this week helped to dispose of a large quantity of alcohol which had been bought by the young volunteers. He said: "The vast majority of owners and workers in shops and off licences do ask young people for ID and will not sell alcohol to anyone who is underage. Most shop staff will also not sell to young people who appear to be underage without the right ID.

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"Using young volunteers to make test purchases helps to weed out the minority who will sell alcohol to young people without thinking of the consequences. Misuse of alcohol amongst the young is directly linked to anti-social behaviour problems in local communities and that is why it is important we crack down on the law-breakers.

"Community safety is a key priority for the County Council so I am very pleased that our Trading Standards Service is joining with Sussex police to identify offenders and help reduce potential problems."