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UNDER - AGE BOOZE SHOPS GET £80 FINES
High street giants Sainsbury’s and M&S caught in sting
DOZENS of high street stores including Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer have been caught selling alcohol to children – but have escaped with fines of just £80.
In a six-month campaign funded by health experts alarmed by the borough’s alcohol abuse problems, police cadets aged 14 to 17 visited 139 shops and supermarkets and attempted to buy alcohol illegally.
As undercover officers looked on, children were sold alcohol 58 times, with six shops caught out just last week.
But although selling alcohol to children is a criminal offence and carries a potential £1,000 fine, in practice police issue an £80 penalty notice which must be paid by the staff member concerned – an instant punishment that saves on administration costs and boosts performance targets.
Critics claim the tactic only punishes the shop assistant who makes the sale.
Yesterday (Wednesday) former health secretary Frank Dobson MP called on new Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson to look at the issue.
He said: “The small outlets are likely to be more careful, but it is the big off-licences and the off-licence sections of even bigger retailers that are causing this problem. The punishment should be very severe – for the companies and not their hapless staff.”
Camden Town activist Silla Carron, who has campaigned for action to reduce crime on the Clarence Way estate, also voiced concern over the penalties. She said: “It is blatant and it is breaking the law. All they are interested in is turnover and money. This £80 won’t make a difference to them. I’d like to see it raised, and I’d like to see their licences removed.”
This week the police refused to release a list of all the shops caught out in the sting amid legal concerns over the “privacy” of the retailers.
But figures disclosed earlier in the operation show that M&S in High Holborn, Sainsbury’s in Fortess Road, Kentish Town, and high-end wine merchants Jeroboams in Heath Street, Hampstead, were among those whose staff broke the law.
Nearly half the offending off-licences were in the Hampstead and Gospel Oak areas.
Inspector Clive French said yesterday that the operation was designed to educate retailers without tying up the massive police resources required to prosecute.
He said: “The penalty notice is a quick and easy hit, almost like a warning, and it helps us identify the extent of the problem. Now we’ll go back to them, and it won’t be penalty notices next time.”
In what is understood to be a national first, the operation was funded by Camden’s health authority, NHS Camden, due to concerns over very high alcohol consumption by Camden teenagers.
An M&S spokeswoman said: “Our policy is to challenge anyone who looks under 21 to provide ID. Our customer assistants learn this as part of their induction and it is reinforced through training every six months and regular internal audit.
“In this instance it is clear that this policy wasn’t followed. Although this is a rare exception we are already working with the store to reinforce the importance of the under-21 rule.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We take the sale of alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 very seriously. Since this incident in November 2008, disciplinary action has been taken and all colleagues in the store have been retrained in our policy of ‘Think 21’.”
Jeroboams’ head office did not respond. |
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