More stores sign up to breathalyser scheme
TWO more shops in Cardiff are breathalysing people who want to buy alcohol.
South Wales Police said two stores outside of the city centre are now using the devices to help staff deal with intoxicated customers.
Officers said the Esso petrol station on Cathedral Road and the Lifestyle Express store on Cowbridge Road East are now using the breathalysers as part of Operation Ash.
The operation is a crackdown on begging, street drinking, and anti-social behaviour in Cardiff city centre.
The initiative was first used at two Spar stores on Queen Street and St Mary Street where breathalysers have been used to test if people buying alcohol are too drunk.
However, critics argue that it is making shop assistants an unregulated extension of the police and raises questions about profiling the homeless.
Devinder Sanghera, owner of the Lifestyle Express in Cowbridge Road East, said he was given the breathalyser about three weeks ago but still had not used it.
He said: “We don’t get much trouble in our shop so we haven’t used it yet. It’s only for when you get people coming in who are already drunk and they argue with you when you refuse to serve them.
“The police try to offer it to everybody around this area, around the city centre. They want to clean up the city centre.
“But it depends how you deal with them.
“For the last 17 years I have been serving alcohol and mainly we don’t get much trouble in our shop anyway.
“It’s good to have it as a backup.”
Staff at the Esso petrol station declined to comment when approached.
An assistant manager at Spar Express, who did not want to be named, said previously that the store often saw drunk people come in to buy alcohol and had been using breathalysers for several months.
He said: “A lot of drunk people come in and can’t control themselves. So when they come in here, can’t speak and are stumbling, we breathalyse them.”
Asked how shop assistants decided who to breathalyse, he said: “We use it when we need to use it. If a drunk person comes in, we’ll definitely be using it – especially if they can’t control themselves in the shop. They have to know the limit – it’s kind of like being the police.”
Dr Kevin Smith of Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences questioned the use of the breathalysers.
He said: “I appreciate and understand a barman at a pub cutting somebody off. But in Spar, particularly in regards to rough sleepers – it’s a bit strange because it’s an extension of police behaviour – a form of surveillance.
“How are they going to decide who gets breathalysed and who doesn’t? They’re not enforcers, they’re customer service workers.”
The Spar assistant manager said the people they breathalyse are “usually regulars”.
“I’ll tell them straight – you need to get breathalysed, otherwise we’re not going to serve you. They know anyway – they’re not stupid. If they’re drunk, they know they’re going to get breathalysed.”