A Sainsburys supermarket in Portsmouth has been banned from selling alcohol for 48 hours after being caught repeatedly selling booze to under-age drinkers.
The store in Farlington was handed an alcohol closure notice after staff were caught by selling alcohol to under-18s on three separate occasions during Police test purchase operations, carried out between January and March.
Sainsburys accepted the 48 hour alcohol closure, which will comes into effect at 7am on Friday (May 7), instead of the option of facing court action .
Sergeant Wendie Douglas, of the police’s licensing team, said: “It is the first time this section of the Licensing Act has been used in Portsmouth .
“Officers have carried out a number of test purchase operations at Sainsbury’s since March and on each occasion staff have refused to sell alcohol to the young people which shows they are taking their responsibilities seriously.”
“Sainsbury’s have taken the failures very seriously and will continue to work with us in training their staff and refusing to sell alcohol to young people.”
Principal Trading Standards Officer, Neil Fitzpatrick, added: “After the disappointing initial results, we are pleased that subsequent re-tests have resulted in Sainsbury staff refusing to serve alcohol to persons under the age of 18.”
“This clearly demonstrates that there is significant room for improvement even in large supermarkets .”
A Sainsbury’s spokesman apologised to customers who have been affected by the temporary suspension.
He said: “Sainsbury’s is a responsible retailer so we have implemented a Think 25 policy and we will be working closely with the local authorities to help prevent this happening again.”