Under-age drinks ordered by text

UNDERAGE drinkers are turning to increasingly ingenious ways to purchase alcohol after evidence has emerged of a text message racket operating in North Yorkshire to recruit adults to buy wine and spirits.

A purge on illegal sales to under-18s in the county has been launched to target adults who are purchasing alcohol on behalf of underage drinkers.

While many shopkeepers are now refusing to sell alcohol to any customer who looks under 18 unless they have official identification, teenagers are using more devious methods to ensure they can get their hands of beer, wine and spirits. Trading standards officers from North Yorkshire County Council have discovered that teenagers are using mobile phones to text orders of alcohol to adults, who are then heading to off licences and supermarkets to buy the drink.

An undercover operation has already caught one offender, and senior councillors have warned that the blitz on illegal sales of alcohol will be stepped up.

North Yorkshire County Council executive member for trading standards Coun Clare Wood said: “Tackling proxy purchasing is vital if we are to stop alcohol getting into the hands of youngsters. Those who buy alcohol on behalf of children need to know that they are committing a serious offence, which has consequences for the entire community.”

An Alcohol Respect Campaign has seen shopkeepers join forces with trading standards officers and North Yorkshire Police to ask for official identification from any customer who looks under age.

One of the undercover operations carried out as part of the campaign has led to Ian Windross being prosecuted after he was spotted handing carrier bags containing spirits, alcopops and cigarettes to a 15-year-old girl outside the Co-op store in Thirsk.

Plain-clothed police and trading standards officers who staged the operation on December 4 swooped as Windross gave the alcohol to the teenager, who was with two other 15-year-old girls and a boy aged 16.

It later emerged that Windross had received a text message from the girl, who had got his mobile phone number from a friend, asking him to buy 30 of alcohol for her.

He had crossed the road from his town centre flat to collect the money from her, before going into the Co-op supermarket where he had bought a litre of Imperial vodka, a large bottle of Smirnoff Ice, two bottles of wine, two bottles of WKD alcopops and 10 cigarettes with the cash.

When interviewed, Windross admitted that he knew the girl was under 18 and that he had also bought alcohol for her on a previous occasion.

Windross, 26, from Thirsk, pleaded guilty at Northallerton Magistrates Court on Monday to an offence under the Licensing Act 2003 of buying alcohol on behalf of someone aged under 18, and was fined 300 with 295 costs and a 15 victim’s fee.

Trading standards officers have warned that anyone caught buying alcohol for under-18s can face prosecution leading to a fine of up to 5,000 as well as a criminal record.

Head of consumer services Derek Smith said: “We have had significant successes working with shopkeepers to prevent underage sales of alcohol, but the flip-side of this is that teenagers are looking to more ingenious ways of buying it.

“If adults are going to buy alcohol for youngsters then they will face prosecution, and hopefully this case sends out a clear message that we will take a tough stance.”

Statistics reveal that more than 10 million people in England drink more than the recommended daily amount. According to Alcohol Concern, up to 22,000 deaths a year in England and Wales are associated with consuming too much alcohol – twice as many as 20 years ago.

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