Recent Trading Standards operations continue to support the public health agenda, and assist to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour attributed to the illegal sale of age-restricted products like alcohol and tobacco products.
This month’s operational work saw young people under the age of 18 attempting to purchase alcohol or vape devices from a number of different businesses in the borough.
Overall, the planned test purchase operations were a success for the Trading Standards team, with 26 businesses tested for compliance.
Unfortunately, over the 2 operations, a total of 5 businesses failed to prevent the sale of alcohol or vape devices to minors.
The failed business premises will now be investigated as part of Trading Standards’ ongoing enquiries.
It’s illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase any type of alcohol or vape devices in England.
Councillor Carleene Lee-Phakoe, Cabinet Member for Crime & Community Safety said:
"Our Trading Standards team continue to reduce the sale of age-restricted products, to reduce crime or anti-social behaviour associated with these products, and support businesses who abide by the rules.
“Trading Standards team have now completed 250 underage test purchase visits since June last year, with just 33 failures across all age-restricted products, which equates to a 13% failure rate.
“The results show that the vast majority of our local businesses are doing the right thing and refusing the sale of age-restricted products to our young people.
“I commend the fantastic work that our Trading Standards team have been conducting on this important local priority.
“We will continue to carry out robust testing, and stop the minority who are breaking the rules.”