A company offering overnight alcohol sales has been reported to Tayside Police by Dundee City Council.
Posters have appeared across the city advertising the services of Convenient Party, a company where customers can place an order online to obtain a delivery of alcoholic drinks throughout the night.
The website states: “It’s like your local takeaway @ the nip of a button, except we deliver the merry stuff!”
A member of the company, responding to an inquiry from The Courier, said: “Convenientparty.com is an online distributor just as any other, except which delivers within minutes between 4pm and 6am.
“We are a rapidly growing fledgling start-up business. We adhere to the principles and all relevant acts of Parliament. We do not directly compete with pubs and clubs.”
The staff member also said only people aged 18 or over can pay by card online and there is no option to pay by cash.
They said: “As we are socially responsible, it is clearly stated on convenientparty.com to have official ID ready at the door if you may appear to our drivers as under 25.”
The council is concerned the company is breaching licensing laws, however.
A spokesman said: “It is a criminal offence to deliver alcohol between the hours of midnight and 6am if the supply is coming from a licensed premises.
“Selling alcohol without a licence is also a criminal offence and we have brought this matter to the attention of Tayside Police.”
A spokeswoman for Tayside Police said: “Our licensing department is looking into the matter.”
Eric Knox, director of Tayside Council on Alcohol, also expressed concern that people who are already drunk could use the company to purchase more alcohol after 3am when ordinarily they would not be able to.
He said: “My initial reaction is that’s encouraging people to drink. It’s uncontrolled drinking.
“I would have real reservations and concerns about anything like this in Tayside. We shouldn’t be encouraging people to drink on top of heavy drinking already.
“I’m concerned with any service like this that there’s no controls over it for the person. We would be concerned about anything like this.”
The company responded: “Persons too drunk will be unable to complete the online ordering process.”