Action over drink stores welcome (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Action over drink stores welcome

8:35am Tuesday 22nd May 2012 in Our View By Telegraph & Argus

The action taken against two Bradford stores caught selling alcohol to under-age customers will hopefully serve as a warning to shops in the district.

Both had their licences removed by councillors on the Licensing Panel – one for three months, the other permanently.

The panel’s action should serve as a warning to traders who persistently serve customers under 18 that they are being monitored. Too many of our young people are able to access alcoholic drinks on a regular basis far too easily.

It leads to anti-social behaviour among teenagers, with police acting in one of the cases after complaints about street drinking in the area. It also stores up huge health issues, with teenagers getting hooked on the drinking habit at an early age.

We know how much of a drain social diseases like drinking are on our National Health Service reserves, and the increased number of young people developing alcohol-related conditions or suffering injuries as a result of drunken behaviour will only increase that.

It is sometimes difficult for shops, with tactics employed by those keen to get a drink including intimidation, false ID, and using older people to buy it for them. But all shops licensed to sell alcohol have to take full responsibility for it. And the two cases reported today show clearly that action will be taken against persistent offenders.

For the sake of the young people, for the sake of their families, and for the sake of the residents who have to deal with the aftermath of teenagers drinking on the street, let us hope these cases act as a deterrent for shops around the district.