Police have warned that the illegal purchase of alcohol for under-18s will not be tolerated as a Workington shop worker was prosecuted for serving a 16-year-old.
Karla Askew, 23, found herself in the dock at the town’s magistrates’ court as Cumbria Constabulary ran a test purchase operation late last year in a bid to stamp out the problem.
On October 8, a PC went with a 16-year-old cadet to Simply Food & Drinks on Murray Road, amid concerns that under-18s were being served with alcohol.
Askew, of Wesley Street, Workington, handed over six bottles of Beck’s lager to the 16-year-old.
“The sale was made without any challenge and the cadet has then left the store,” prosecutor Pam Fee told the court. “The defendant was the person who has sold the alcohol.”
Askew later confessed she didn’t even talk or look at the teen and complained of being distracted while working on her own at the time. “It was my fault,” she told magistrates, who fined her £132.
After the hearing, a Cumbria police spokesman said: “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.
“Young people drinking alcohol had been raised to us by concerned residents and we acted upon these concerns and ran a test purchase operation to test stores on their vigilance in challenging those they suspect may be underage.
“Businesses who sell alcohol have a professional duty not to sell alcohol to children.
“During our enquiries and work with young people to reduce anti-social 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 also work with the community alcohol partnership to educate people about some of the problems associated with alcohol.”
