Seven shops fail in under-age sales test (From The Argus)
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Seven West Sussex shops fail in under-age sales test
12:00pm Tuesday 4th December 2012 in News
Seven shops have been caught out selling cigarettes, alcohol and fireworks to children.
More than a third of shops visited by volunteers aged 15 and 16 were found to be prepared to sell the products to under-age customers.
The investigation by West Sussex Trading Standards and Sussex Police found four shops in Worthing and three in Bognor operating illegally.
Trading standards officers said in some cases no questions at all were asked of the volunteers let alone requesting proof of age.
It is illegal to sell these products to those under 18 and Trading Standards supports the Think 25 policy encouraging traders to ask for ID from anyone who looks under that age.
Christine Field, West Sussex County Council cabinet member for public protection, said: “What is an especially worrying development is the sale of fireworks to our volunteers.
“In the past this has proved very rare. However, in this exercise two shops sold both fireworks and cigarettes to the volunteer in the same purchase.”
Anyone suspecting a shop of serving under-age customers can report them anonymously on 0845 404 0506 or via www.westsussex.gov.uk by typing “incident reporting form” into the search bar.
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Comments(4)
Crystal Ball
says...
12:22pm Tue 4 Dec 12
olebut wrote:I don't think it's specifically about entrapment but more to do with ensuring shops recognise potential under-age purchasers i.e. having procedures in place to prevent it.
I have always wondered about the legality of these 'tests' is it not entrapment and those sending the youngsters in are not above the law, so they are surely guilty of enticing a minor to break the law as well as entrapment.
That said, it works the other way when shop staff ask clearly legally aged people to produce id for alcohol, cigarettes and (even) paracetamol!
John Steed
says...
1:34pm Tue 4 Dec 12
John Steed
says...
1:53pm Tue 4 Dec 12
olebut says...
12:10pm Tue 4 Dec 12