Rise Of Alcohol Sales To children

Thu, 12 Oct 2006
 
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It was revealed yesterday that one in five children are being sold alcohol . The overall proportion of supermarkets selling alcohol to children has increased despite Government crackdowns.

The supermarket chain Kwik Save has topped the list as the worst-performing of all UK supermarkets with a failure rate of 26 per cent. Somerfield followed with 22 per cent and Sainsburys and Morrisons both chipped in with a 20% failure rate.

Ministers said they were disappointed with the latest results from the alcohol misuse enforcement campaign, and warned the licensed trade that they expected "real improvements".

Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister said, "I am disappointed with these test purchase results . The problem of alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder is an issue of major public concern and we are all responsible for tackling it."

During May and June the Police carried out 1,346 sting operations at supermarkets, from which children were able to buy alcohol in 244 cases. During that period 29,981 arrests were made and over 30,000 premises raided.

Overall, supermarkets' failure rate was 18 per cent compared with 17 per cent in the previous Home Office campaign.

Results showed pubs and bars across England and Wales being the biggest culprits by breaking the law most frequently, selling to children in 48 per cent of cases. On the contrary the North East had the best results with just 18 per cent.

The Shadow home secretary David Davis said yesterday, "These figures show why the government was wrong to simply unleash 24-hour drinking on our town and city centres.

He added, "They should have answered our calls to pilot the scheme so that its consequences could be fully appreciated and so that it could then be sensibly applied."

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