Alcohol test purchasing carried out in Portsmouth

A number of licensed premises in Portsmouth have failed test purchases as part of an operation conducted by Hampshire Constabulary’s Licensing and Alcohol Harm Reduction Team.

The team used a volunteer to visit 17 premises in the city on Sunday 26 January, and more than half of these businesses failed.

The purpose of the operation was to test age verification policies and training for the sale of alcohol.

Staff at 8 of the venues passed the test by requesting ID and refusing the sale of alcohol to our 15-year-old volunteer.

However, staff at the remaining 9 venues failed the test. As a result, staff who made the sales were issued community resolutions, requiring them to obtain further training around their age verification policies.

We are now working closely with the businesses to ensure they will be compliant with the law, and in a position where the risk of selling alcohol to children will be minimal.

PC Peter Rackham, of the Licensing and Alcohol Harm Reduction Team, said: “Officers will be seeking to work in partnership with premises who have failed, to put them in a position where staff will apply the challenge 25 policies.

“For some premises, this will mean changes to the licence. Should premises fail a further time in three months then we will consider their powers under the Licensing Act 2003 regarding the persistent sale of alcohol to children.

“This potentially will allow us to stop a venue from selling alcohol for a period of time and review the premises’ licence.

“We encourage all businesses to utilise and train their staff in Challenge 25 to empower them in making the right decisions, and preventing alcohol falling into the hands of children”.