The Lib Dems say that 23% of licensed premises supply drink to under 18s. These figures are based on tests conducted by local authorities whereby under 18s are sent into licensed stores to buy alcohol. According to the figures out of 11,452 tests, 2,588 had resulted in purchases by minors. The result is anti-social behaviour and crime. The cause of this is the easy availability of alcohol to under 18s. I have a simple policy. Alcohol being consumed by minors, , should be traced back to the premises where it was purchased, where it can be proven, and then their licence taken away immediately. This would go someway to limit the supply of alcohol to under 18s and reduce crime.
I don’t have much time for the argument that teenagers don’t have much to do and therefore hit the bottle. This is a flimsy argument. Having time on your hands doesn’t necessarily drive you to drink, and aside from this teenagers now probably have more to occupy themselves with then any previous generation. Even if it did make any sense there isn’t a lot the Government can do about it. However, a sure way to deal with teenagers who drink is to reduce the supply, and one way to do this is to come down hard on premises illegally selling alcohol.
28/12/2006 at 01:19 |
Apparently the Lib Dems have announced they are going to cut crime. No doubt they will now attack the Conservatives for not having a policy , even though they share the aspiration. The difference is that it goes without saying with a serious party preparing for government.
28/12/2006 at 23:11 |
To be fair Daniel local authorities do come down hard on premises that sell alcohol to under 18s. When I worked in Threshers I was warned that the council organised the test buyers you mentioned. I was also told that I would personally have to pay a £70 fine. Threshers were a responsible retailers and we always checked the ID of anyone looking under 21. I agree that the government should put pressure on the retailer to ensure that we have responsible licensees.
29/12/2006 at 00:08 |
Daniel you are crazy to suggest that there license should be taken away immediately! This would limit the supply to minors but also to everyone else!!
29/12/2006 at 00:29 |
I never thought of it from angle.. haha. I would hope that retailers would just get tougher and therefore wouldn’t affect those of us who are above the legal age. According to the figures enough clearly isn’t being done to clamp down on the supply to teenagers.