A new study indicates the extent of alcohol being illegaly sold to 'drunks' in licensed premises. Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University found that on average, 84% of trained actors pretending to be drunk were served.
It is an offence under the Licensing Act 2003 to knowingly serve alcohol to a drunk person, or to obtain alcohol for a drunk person on a licensed premises. However it remains one of the most rarely enforced laws on the statute book.
The study took place across 73 bars in the North West of England using actors who were trained to act drunk using slurred speech, unsteadiness, lack of eye focus and fumbling. Although there is no legal definition of drunkeness, police are able to act as expert witnesses for determining drunkenness. The actors were trained with police and "ensured that a very high level of intoxication was portrayed" to serving staff.
The study found that the "drunk" actors were consistently sold alcohol, ranging from 60% on Wednesdays to 94% on Fridays, and from 78% before midnight to 96% after midnight. 95% of attempts to buy alcohol were successful in venues with bouncers, compared with two-thirds in those without bouncers. In 18% of alcohol sales, servers attempted to up-sell by suggesting double rather than single vodkas.
The report states:
While debate on the need for new legislation to reduce alcohol harms continues, more could be done to better enforce existing laws. Leaving the alcohol industry to self-regulate is unlikely to be effective, as a single bar in an area still prepared to serve drunks would benefit from those rejected from compliant bars. Moreover, enforcing no alcohol sales to drunks would impact most heavily on the biggest consumers with nearly 80% of alcohol consumed by the 30% heaviest drinkers nationally.
Something to be done?
The Government's 2012 alcohol strategy, infamous for its u-turn on minimum pricing, also committed to action to address sales to drunks. The strategy stated:
Where we identify that tools and powers are being used insufficiently, we will work with the police and others to change this. For example, it is an offence, under the Licensing Act 2003, to knowingly serve alcohol to a drunk but there were only three convictions for this offence in 2010... we will work with the police to tackle the issue of serving alcohol to drunks including exploring how greater use can be made of existing powers and how test purchasing can support this.
Norman Baker, crime prevention minister, said knowingly selling alcohol to someone who was drunk was illegal, and "anyone who witnesses this irresponsible behaviour should report it". Presumably this means to the police or local Trading Standards, but exactly what follow up action you should expect to see is unclear.
Comments