underage drinking

Massive problem, isn't it eh?

I'm a personal license holder.

My sister and her mates, most of them are 17. They are in Doncaster tonight drinking.

Like I said. Massive problem. And nothing is being done, as my sister is proving tonight.

Test purchasers get sent into shops and pubs to try and purchase alcohol. Pub and shops get fined for selling to test purchasers. Do they ever get fined for selling to a genuine underage customer? NO. Does the genuine underage customer ever get fined for buying, or attempting to buy, alcohol? NO.

The whole system is corrupt and stupid. I dont know why we bother. I really dont.

Some of the best drinking sessions I ever had were when I was underage. Strangely enough the first time I was asked for ID was when I was about 30 and married with 2 kids

My Sis got asked for ID in WH Smith when buying Tippex.......

How old was she? Erm, 34!!

ive been told I look young for my age. I v never been asked

crafty1289 said:

Massive problem, isn't it eh?

I'm a personal license holder.

My sister and her mates, most of them are 17. They are in Doncaster tonight drinking.

Like I said. Massive problem. And nothing is being done, as my sister is proving tonight.

Test purchasers get sent into shops and pubs to try and purchase alcohol. Pub and shops get fined for selling to test purchasers. Do they ever get fined for selling to a genuine underage customer? NO. Does the genuine underage customer ever get fined for buying, or attempting to buy, alcohol? NO.

The whole system is corrupt and stupid. I dont know why we bother. I really dont.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but what are her mates like?

this just sums it all up.........

I used to work in a comprehensive school and was unfortunate enough to also be living within the catchment area.
One night I went local with my mates for one of the lads 30th and ended up drinking way too much, hence I made a right tit of myself. I wont go into detail.

Monday morning back in work I got called into the heads office. He knew all about my saturday night antics and I had a "friendly" warning to watch my step.

But the underage pupils who saw me at my worst got off scott free! not even a ticking off!

ok, a chain of pubs face this problem, underage and binge drinking, and the effects this is having on society, young people and the licencing trade.
From your point of view, do landlords start introducing stringent measures in their pubs to ensure that underage drinkers are excluded, plus start to evict those who are the worse for ware because of drink?
OR
they target different market segment - 25-40 yrs old, convert the pubs to wine bars and so on.
Which of the two would work?

Crafty

I presume you have a pub or off licence. remember the licensee is ultimately responsible for all under age sales by members of staff even if your not on the premises.

it is up to the licensee to ensure you do as much as possible to avoid selling to under age persons. If you have to ask their age you already suspect they are not 18 and you should refuse. The only ID you should accept with confidence is a photo driving licence or passport. Almost anything else can be forged on home computers.

There are many systems that can be put into place to stop under age sales and the corruption stems from licensees driven by profit, rather than being a responsible retailer reflecting the needs of the community.

Licensees have the power to stem the flow of alcohol to youngsters, it'll never be stopped only reduced, kids will always find a way

years ago i used to be a bar man in a well known pub in cornwall
now this pub had a bit of a rep for serving underage drinkers but it a blind eye was usually turned, mainly cos we wouldnt serve obviously underagers but sometimes we would know they wre 17 but as long as they were well behaved we didnt mind and they never pushed their luck
the ones actually drinking would come to the bar and would usually get served a pint or two, then they would leave and go elsewhere.
now after a while we started getting stricter and started losing friends cos of it.
then the owner enforce a strict rule.. NO under 18's at all.
suddely the pub was quiet for days on end...and the average age jumped to about 50. we then started losing the regulars cos they said there was no sense of fun anymore.
we even had a major falling out with a couple of solicitors whose son used to drink in the pub.. and he was 17.... they even tried getting us to bend the rules...just for him
eventually we had to close down and i changed pubs.. all cos of the loss of trade from the youngsters....
sad isnt it.,..

@Bomber127
Crafty, yes , , but not in the pub business,
just lined up a couple of academic questions, in fact, this is a dilemma quite a few pubs are facing and need to address the issues.
It is not easy to move to different market segment, certanly not as profitable, I guess.
As I said, the questions above are from the academic circles (but I'm not academic either), they are already trying to source ideas how to tackle these problems.
Not easy at all, its becoming part of the culture and a social phenomenon too.
As the old folks say (from dabaldie's comment above) 'no sense of fun anymore', sad but true.

@dabaldie
nice comment, I like it, thanks

I myself go out on tuesday nights. I am 20 years old, and most of my mates are 18-21. I myself stopped getting ID'd when i turned 20 (my photo in rogue's gallery Page2-3). I still take my driving license out with me though, just in case, because I know how awkward it is to ask someone for ID. Now, Tuesday nights in doncaster is "alternative night" which brings out all the rock/indie fans, and casual clothing is encouraged. I see a hell of a lot of lasses who do not look 18, drinking in pubs. I dont know how they get away with it.

I work in a convenience store, part of a chain. We had a test purchase last week, and failed. We have Under21 posters, shelf edge signs, bus stops that stick out from the shelves, stickers on the till drawers, stickers on the windows, badges for staff, and radio announcements. The amount of stuff we have to emphasise our Under21 policy is unreal. Behind the scenes, we have an All Due Diligence log, in which we record requests for ID. And there is a training programme. Every few months staff have to complete a age related sales refresher module. And the only ID we accept in store is passport, driving licence and citizencard (which we promote with leaflets)

The test purchase - no fines were enforced on the offending cashier, and the premises supervisor was not contacted either (my name not on license yet). I assume they will be back to test again sometime soon. The offending cashier was given a warning by the company and made to do an extra diligence training module.

The company does everything it can to try to stop underage sales, simply because they cannot afford to stop selling alcohol in a store. And if the company does get prosecuted and goes to court, they have plenty of defence so as not to loose the licence for that shop (mentioned above). If a store looses its licence, it closes. Full stop. So far, it hasn't happened to our company, but its only a matter of time unfortunately.

I think it's funny when you see a group of young kids ( 15 - 17 etc.. ) hanging around shops and just before you go in they ask ( the bravest one ) says excuse me can you get me some tabs please, or some cider/cans of larger, my reply is no your too young, then i tend to laugh to my in side thinking that was me many moons ago,

markie
12 yo
yeah ...lol..lol..lol..lol bulmers cider an some daft lil named ruskkie bottle of vodka ....an party can 7 in the park ..lol great days ..lol

btw
to the topic question , my mates daughter who is 13 , looks 21 when dressed up ..lol
it must be very hard to tell the difference as an offie owner now

worse probably... I can remember drinking 'mixtures', which consisted of putting whatever you could sneak out of the shorts bottles in the drink cabinet at home, into a small pop bottle and sharing supplies out amongst friends.

mods are quick tonite or have I got a SHADOW ..LOL

toffee
yeah great days .....
meet your mates an take the mick an then cop off