Anger as alcohol 'sting' fines torn up

Some bar staff were initially given 80 on-the-spot fines by the police, but those were torn up after South Yorkshire Police reviewed the footage of the sting on Friday, May 7.

Three teenagers, two girls and a boy, were sent into three pubs to check out bar staff by ordering drinks.

They ordered a total of two vodka and cokes, two Bacardi and cokes and two Strongbows – but were then caught on closed circuit TV downing the drinks instead of going outside to inform the trading standards officials.

The teenagers were sent into Cromwells and the Fox Inn at Conisbrough and the Sportsman in Mexborough, both near Doncaster.

A spokesman at Cromwells said: "I've got it on CCTV, they walk over, sit down and drink up. They walk out and the empty glasses are on the table. They are not even supposed to smell it, never mind drink it.

"I am a stickler for making sure everyone served is over 18, but this operation was not done in the right way.

"It is very, very difficult to work out if customers are over 18 or not, especially when you have a busy bar."

A barman at the Fox Inn, who had his fine torn up, said: "I've been in the pub trade for over 30 years. I took a look and these teenagers looked well over 18.

"I was given a ticket but a few days later the police came back and quashed it.

"When these operations are carried out they are supposed to have a trading standards official already sitting in the pub, but no one was in when these three came in and got served.

"I think it is entrapment. You have to use your own judgment and sometimes it is impossible to tell their age."

A Doncaster Council spokesman said: "National guidelines are laid down for this type of operation and we follow these. "We have enhanced these procedures to ensure that the drinking does not occur again."