Minors welcome at the bar

A Controlled Purchase Operation conducted in Whangarei by the Northland DHB, police and Whangarei District Council staff has produced a black mark for two premises.

Volunteers aged 16 and 17 years were unsuccessful in attempting to buy alcohol from off-licensed retailers, but were served at two on-licensed premises.

Alcohol Harm Reduction Officer Whangarei/Kaipara, Sergeant Howard Clement, said that was very disappointing.

“The two premises involved should have better systems in place,” he said.

“These sales of alcohol to minors should not be occurring. When applying for a licence, all applicants state they have appropriate systems and procedures in place to prevent the sale of alcohol to underage people.

“Clearly this is not the case for the premises who sold alcohol to the underage volunteer.

“I would like to emphasise to all sellers, that anyone attempting to purchase alcohol who looks under 25 years of age and is unable to produce identification, should not be sold alcohol.

“It is important to stress that a full and proper identification check must be carried out, including calculating the age. This is best practice, and the only sure way to prevent sales to those who are underage.

“As a community we need to have confidence that licence holders will not sell alcohol to our youth and allow them to drink unsupervised and potentially harmfully,” he added.

“After more than 10 years of running these operations, with education, publicity and enforcement, this is poor.”

The consequences, when the licensees were reported to the authorities, were significant, including financial implications and likely suspension of their licences.

“All premises selling or supplying alcohol are well aware that we run these types of operations regularly, so should not be surprised that they are being tested.

“We expect that all premises should guard against sales to young persons and have the right procedures in place,” Sergeant Clement said.