Underage Drinking Sales 'Disappointing'

Police in the Bitterne area of Southampton have carried out an operation to target under-age alcohol sales.

They visited five off licences on June 23, and four of them failed the test.

The four which failed were:

High Firs, Burseldon Road, Sholing
Alpine News, Vanguard Road
Co’op, Midanbury, Witts Hill
Bob and Paula’s, Valentines Road, Sholing
One premises passed, Sai Arrow News, Forest Hills Drive Broadway.

Bitterne Inspector Patrick Holdaway said: “All those who failed received a £80 fixed penalty notice. It was really disappointing to hear that the majority of shops testedsold alcohol to someone under the age of 18."

He added: “There is a direct link with underage drinking and anti social behaviour. We will be relentless in our drive to reduce ASB which can so dramatically affect communities. 

“We plan to conduct further test purchasing operations in support of our force wide anti social behaviour campaign and will adopt the same robust approach in dealing withthose that do not comply with the law."

Anyone with information on shops selling alcohol to under 18’s should contact police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.