Police order spot checks on pubs and off-licences (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Police order spot checks on pubs and off-licences

Pubs and off-licences in Wootton Bassett are to undergo spot checks as part of the ongoing police effort to curb anti-social behaviour.

Last month the Gazette reported how police were adopting a hard-line approach to underage drinking after repeated complaints of anti social behaviour on Friday and Saturday nights.

It also follows several occasions when police officers have had to take teenagers, some as young as 14, back to their homes after finding them drunk in the High Street.

Sgt Andy Fortune, of Wootton Bassett Police, said: "There is an ongoing problem and this is another way of enforcing the law and making sure that pubs and off-licences are not forgetting their responsibilities.

"We want to clamp down on the underage drinking but almost more importantly is the anti-social behaviour that comes about as a result of it."

Letters have been sent out to all the town's licensees highlighting the problems of underage drinking and warning that spot checks will be carried out.

Sgt Fortune urged parents to take more responsibility of their children. "We've all got a responsibility but ultimately it comes down to the parents to know where their children are.

"We've had reports of kids being out as late as 4.30am. What are they doing and why don't their parents know they're out?"

Trading standards area manager for Wiltshire County Council Yvonne Bennett said: "We had child volunteers doing test purchases throughout the county during the Easter holidays and we can do that again.

"If a sale is made then that's an offence and we carry out further investigations to see whether that should lead to a prosecution or caution."

One in five of the 69 traders checked countywide sold alcohol to children aged between 13 and 15 although of the 19 stores checked in north Wiltshire there were only two sales.

Sgt Fortune said: "Thankfully we haven't had too many problems recently but that's down to the fact that we've been policing the trouble spots where we've been getting the complaints from.

"That's not to say that they're not there it just means they've moved to different places."