Two stores in West Cumbria have been fined for selling alcohol to children.
Officers in West Cumbria carried out a test purchase operation on October 8 that led to two stores being fined for selling alcohol to children.
The operation was carried out in Workington and Maryport as well as Longtown in north Cumbria following concerns raised by residents of youth disorder and underage drinking.
Two stores in West Cumbria were each reported for further investigation after failing to challenge and selling to a person under the age of 18.
The force says that officers will continue to be proactive in responding to concerns of residents and urged stores to always challenge for ID when they suspect a person, under the legal age, is attempting to purchase alcohol.
Sergeant David Horky said: “The issue of youth disorder and specifically young people drinking alcohol had been raised to us by concerned residents.
“We acted upon these concerns and have run a test purchase operation to test stores on their vigilance in challenging those they suspect may be underage.
“We have reported stores which will lead to further investigations and hope that the stores involved and stores across West Cumbria learn from this. These stores have a professional duty not to sell alcohol to children.
“During our enquiries and work with young people to reduce antisocial behaviour we have found that there are adults who are purchasing alcohol on behalf of underage drinkers. This will simply not be tolerated and we will be looking to identify any person who is doing this.
“We work very closely with partner agencies, businesses and local residents to tackle antisocial behaviour and we continually look to address the concerns of the communities we serve.”
