Retailers in Derbyshire are being offered help from the council to crack down on illegal attempts to purchase age-restricted products in the county.
Derbyshire County Council has invited 2,100 traders from c-stores, off licences and pubs to a series of five workshops to be held in September.
The workshops form part of the council's 'Are You Old Enough?' campaign and have been organised on the back of what it describes as "disappointing" test purchasing results. In a recent alcohol test purchasing exercise, two 16-year-olds managed to buy 180 cans of lager and cider from five shops in just one day.
The workshops will focus on prevention, good practice and the support the trading standards team can offer on any age-restricted sales issues. Retailers attending will also receive a campaign pack containing a DVD highlighting the sometimes tragic consequences of an underage sale, as well as a pocket-sized guide to the law and posters and stickers to display in their stores.
A council spokesman said attendance at the workshops would not affect whether or not traders were checked in the future, but added: "If a trader and their staff have attended our workshops, taken our advice and have put measures in place to prevent underage sales and followed them, and can show it is more likely to be a mistake than a regular occurrence, we will take this into account."
Derbyshire County Council has invited 2,100 traders from c-stores, off licences and pubs to a series of five workshops to be held in September.
The workshops form part of the council's 'Are You Old Enough?' campaign and have been organised on the back of what it describes as "disappointing" test purchasing results. In a recent alcohol test purchasing exercise, two 16-year-olds managed to buy 180 cans of lager and cider from five shops in just one day.
The workshops will focus on prevention, good practice and the support the trading standards team can offer on any age-restricted sales issues. Retailers attending will also receive a campaign pack containing a DVD highlighting the sometimes tragic consequences of an underage sale, as well as a pocket-sized guide to the law and posters and stickers to display in their stores.
A council spokesman said attendance at the workshops would not affect whether or not traders were checked in the future, but added: "If a trader and their staff have attended our workshops, taken our advice and have put measures in place to prevent underage sales and followed them, and can show it is more likely to be a mistake than a regular occurrence, we will take this into account."
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