Tagged bottle blitz on underage booze sales

Thursday 10 February 2011

Tagged bottle blitz on underage booze sales

Bottles of booze are to be tagged with invisible labels in a bid to crackdown on the sale of alcohol to youngsters.

The pioneering approach will see bottles marked with symbols that can only be seen under ultra violet light, allowing police and trading standards officers to trace where the item was bought. They have strong adhesive that makes them very difficult to remove.

The new move is being piloted in East Renfrewshire after residents told the council under-age boozing is one of their major concerns. The local licensing forum is pursuing initiatives to target individuals who are prepared to provide alcohol to young people. The forum is made up of council officers, residents, members of the licensed trade and the police. It claims there is a clear link between under-age drinking and the levels of violence and disorder seen on the streets of East Renfrewshire, particularly at weekends. A council spokesman said: “First off, we hope that the publicity and the signs being displayed will act as a high visibility deterrent. The register is in place to allow us to utilise an intelligence lead operation to target agent sales. “A typical example would be that a youth is stopped by the police and alcohol taken from them, the police can trace the alcohol to the shop via the UV label. “This is the first time in Scotland that invisible UV labels have been used to tackle the problem. These labels are extremely difficult to notice with the naked eye. They are visible upon inspection with a UV torch, when they glow blue. “We decided to use this new technology as opposed to other schemes which run in Scotland, who use UV pens to mark bottles — an argument has been that the UV ink can be rubbed off and fades quickly.” Inspector Campbell Crawford, of Strathclyde Police, said: “Examination of seizures will provide us with valuable information to alert parents to the fact that their children have purchased alcohol and also to trace and prosecute adults who purchase alcohol for young people. “Those premises taking participation in the scheme will be asked to display promotional materials in support of the scheme. “We recognise that staff in licensed premises can sometimes feel threatened when confronted by young people demanding to be served with alcohol. “One of the main aims of this initiative is that by displaying promotional materials youths will be reluctant to attempt to purchase alcohol.” John Bunclark, chairman of the East Renfrewshire Forum, said: “To make this scheme work, we require the assistance and co-operation of the licensed trade.”

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