Spy kids uncover underage drinking

Recent findings released following a nationwide campaign to catch retailers selling alcohol to under 18-year-olds show that over one-in-seven locations targeted permitted the sale.

The Test Purchasing Scheme, rolled-out across Scotland after a successful pilot in Fife in 2007, deploys young people to premises selling alcohol in an attempt to catch staff red-handed.

Of the 1,600 licensed premises targeted in 2008, 227 agreed to sell alcohol to those under the legal age of sale. After a warning, this number dropped to 22 on the volunteers’ second visits.

The scheme, which is ongoing, works with local police forces and young volunteers in a sting to highlight pubs, off-licenses, grocers, shops and nightclubs failing to ask for suitable identification.

The Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "We know that too many under eighteens are drinking alcohol – a simple walk through a park or down the street on a Friday night is evidence of that. To tackle this we need to make sure they can't buy alcohol, that's why we've rolled out the national test purchasing scheme. This means our police officers can deploy 16-year-olds to make sure licensees are complying with the law. It also gives them evidence to make sure action is taken against those who don't. In the Lothian and Borders area we've already seen the benefits of the scheme.

"Responsible licensees have nothing to fear; adopting a can't tell, don't sell policy is the best option. This is about protecting our young people and tackling under age drinking. I hope this can help make sure young people in Edinburgh are not able to buy alcohol,” he added.

The test purchase scheme mirrors plans by the Scottish National Party to toughen regulations relating to the sale of cheap alcohol and to prohibit under 21 year-olds from purchasing off-license alcohol in some areas.

Speaking to the Scotland on Sunday, the Scottish Labour Party’s spokesman on justice, Richard Baker, was also keen to highlight the numbers caught through the scheme: “The number of premises failing test purchasing at first visit really is disappointing. But the fact that a much smaller number fail at the second attempt shows that test purchasing does work.”