South Wales Police and Trading Standards officers from the City and County of Swansea mounted a test purchase exercise on Friday 5th February in city centre licensed premises.
This formed part of the ongoing initiative tackling under age access to alcohol which has seen the seizure of fake and borrowed identification documents from young people trying to get into pubs.
Under age volunteers visited a number of premises to test the integrity of their entry systems at the door of the premises as well as attempting to purchase alcohol at the bar. The volunteers went into three licensed premises in the Wind Street area whose bar staff then sold alcohol to the volunteers.
Acting Police Sergeant Jason Herbert who led the operation, said “A joint investigation will now be carried out with Trading Standards at the premises concerned. Young persons drinking in the city centre often become involved in offences or become victims of crime themselves and test purchasing is an important tool in addressing this”.
Prosecution action and potential applications for reviews of licences have not been ruled out at this stage.
Inspector Cath Larkman, said, “We are working closely with our partners in the Trading Standards Department to address issues of personal responsibility by young persons and their parents.”
“We have also been working with members of the city centre Pub and Clubwatch to raise awareness and improve ID checking systems. There are many premises and staff, both at the door of premises and at the bar, who have really stepped up to the challenge and are proactively checking ID and challenging people they suspect are under age.”
Inspector Larkman added “However, we will not hesitate to ensure that those premises who are not upholding the same standards are identified and that action is taken. Further operations will be taking place”.