Two stores in Surrey Heath sell alcohol to 16-year-old during test purchasing operation

Two licensed premises in Surrey Heath sold alcohol to an underage customer without asking for ID during a test purchase operation on Tuesday (1 March).

The operation, which was run by the Camberley Neighbourhood Team and Surrey Heath Borough Council licensing department, tested 16 licensed premises across the borough.

Two of the premises, The Co-Op in Bagshot and the Stop & Shop Premier in Camberley, failed the test by serving alcohol to the 16-year-old test purchaser. The test purchaser was not challenged or asked for any identification during the transaction. The Co-Op has been issued with a community resolution order and the staff member at the Stop & Shop Premier has been issued with a caution due to the fact that they had previously been caught selling alcohol to underage customers at a shop in Farnborough. They were therefore not eligible for a community resolution and so issued with a caution instead.

Surrey Heath Licensing Officer Rab Carnie said: “We work very closely with the licensing trade but where we receive intelligence or concerns from the community that standards at a premises are not being maintained we will seek to carry out test purchase operations with our colleagues from Surrey Heath Borough Council. It is proven that the misuse of alcohol can cause anti-social behaviour in young people and businesses that have a licence to sell alcohol have a responsibility to ensure that the conditions of that licence and the law are upheld.”

Surrey Heath Neighbourhood Inspector Gemma Taylor said: “All licence holders must realise that it is their responsibility to ensure that everyone working for them follows the letter of the law.

“This operation was part of our ongoing commitment to prevent alcohol being sold to young people under the age of 18 and they will continue. I encourage members of the public to report incidents where they see alcohol being sold to under 18s so we can follow it up.”