Traders do their bit to stamp out underage sales

Almost all the shops targeted in a recent test purchase exercise refused to sell alcohol to underage children.

Of all the ten premises targeted in the exercise, involving two 15-year-old volunteers, only one made the sale.

Rochdale Borough Council’s Public Protection Team targeted both over the counter and self service tills as part of the exercise, which covered shops across the whole borough.

The self service counters prompt shop assistants to approach the customer and check they’re old enough to buy alcohol and in each instance the staff asked the volunteers for ID and subsequently refused the sale.

The one failed test purchase, in Middleton, was an over the counter sale.

Nicola Rogers, the acting head of the Public Protection at Rochdale Council, said: “It’s great to see that our retailers are clearly taking their legal obligations seriously. The law exists to protect the young people of our borough from harm and that’s why we will continue to enforce it through our regular test purchasing exercises.”