Two premises in west Fife have been reported to the procurator fiscal for selling alcohol to under-age drinkers.
Officers from Fife Constabulary’s Cowdenbeath Area Community Team carried out two alcohol test purchase operations in the Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath areas during Saturday evening.
These were as a direct result of complaints from local residents and intelligence, which were received in relation to two licensed shops selling alcohol to people under the age of 18 on what police believe to have been on a regular basis.
As a result of these operations both premises that were targeted failed and sold alcohol to a person under the age of 18 and the staff responsible for selling the alcohol and the premises licence holder will all be subject of reports to the procurator Fiscal at Dunfermline.
A police spokesman said they could not name the offending premises individually.
Cowdenbeath Community Inspector Ken Stickings said test purchase operations have been ongoing in Fife for some time now and are regularly carried out by his officers.
He said, “This is done by utilising some of our young people as volunteers to work with us and target premises, as a result of intelligence we receive from our local communities, which suggest that licence holders and shop staff are selling alcohol to our local young people, which is in breach of their licence conditions and a criminal offence.
“My officers will continue to carry out these operations where intelligence exists providing us with information that these activities are taking place.
“We will continue to target premises and report anyone who is found to be in breach of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.”
Inspector Stickings said that further test operations will take place in the Cowdenbeath area and has issued a warning to any premises that fall foul of the law.
“I would take this opportunity to warn local licensees that when selling alcohol to anyone, that they and their staff should always check a recognisable means of identification first, as there is no excuse not to and your livelihoods may be at risk if you do not take the few seconds it takes to do so,” he added.
“Not only that, the public need their support to tackle the issues of alcohol misuse within their communities so work with us to make a difference.
“I would take this opportunity to thank those members of the Cowdenbeath Area Community who take the time and trouble to contact us regarding under-age sales of alcohol and in doing so not only alert us to problems but provide us with the means and intelligence to take these matters further.”