Children buy booze for ‘pocket money prices’

CHILDREN are getting drunk on strong alcohol sold for ‘ pocket money prices’, a police chief has warned.

Sergeant Mick Urwin, licensing expert for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said youngsters can buy booze for less than the cost of their school dinner.

He warned groups of underage drinkers were hiding from adults to guzzle cheap, high-strength alcohol – such as three litres of cider for just a few pounds – putting them at risk of sexual exploitation or other dangers.

Sergeant Urwin spoke out as the Commons health and home affairs select committees carried out a joint investigation into minimum unit pricing on alcohol. He said: ‘Alcohol is being sold at pocket money prices. Young people will go for the cheapest drink they can get.

‘If we continue to allow them access to cheap alcohol at less than the cost they are paying with their dinner money at school, then it will continue to cause a lot of harm.’

The Scottish Government is already pressing ahead with introducing a minimum charge of 50p per unit of alcohol.

A three-litre bottle of cider containing 22.5 units of alcohol can be bought for as little as £3.60. If the 50p unit price were introduced, that would jump to £11.

Campaigners argue that minimum pricing would reduce the consumption of super-strength ciders and lagers and cheap spirits. But in 2013, then Prime Minister David Cameron dropped the proposal after a lobbying campaign by drinks companies and ministers warned that it could unfairly hit responsible drinkers on lower incomes.

Giving evidence in the Commons yesterday, Rosanna O’Connor of Public Health England, said just 4 per cent of the population consumed almost one-third of all the alcohol sold in England. She added: ‘The result [of minimum pricing] would be a significant impact on a small group of people. That’s why it’s such a targeted policy for such great health gains.’