ACS

ACS has called on Police to do more to prevent adults buying alcohol on behalf of young people. Speaking on Radio 5 Live ACS Chief Executive James Lowman criticized the lack of action taken by Police to tackle adults that supply underage drinkers with alcohol. Department of Health figures show that the single biggest source of alcohol for underage drinkers is parents or other adults.

Mr Lowman said: “The single biggest way by which underage drinkers get hold of alcohol is by getting it from over 18s that are willing to supply them. Unfortunately we know that this includes parents. As it stands Police in most areas are not taking this crime seriously, and until they do we will not make inroads into changing behaviour.”

Responding to a suggestion that retailers could be asked to mark alcohol products with a unique or sticker, Mr Lowman said: “Just because the can or bottle had that mark, it would not mean that a store had sold alcohol to an underage person, and should not be considered grounds for prosecuting the retailer.”

These comments follow a survey of 1,250 13 to 19 year olds conducted by Crime Concern as part of their Positive Futures programme. The survey found that 52% of young people had obtained alcohol from the local corner shop, off license or supermarket, the survey does not indicate at what age and how often they had obtained alcohol from shops. The survey also found that 50% of parents were reported as condoning or not caring about their children drinking.

Mr Lowman continued: “There have been major improvements in the performance of retailers in preventing underage sales. However, the headline from this survey is a reminder to retailers that the problem is not going away and we must continue to improve performance.

“It is shocking to see that the survey found that underage drinking is condoned or ignored by half of the parents of the children surveyed. If we are serious about tackling underage drinking then we have to look at all the factors that led to young people obtaining and drinking alcohol. Tackling adults that encourage and supply young people has to be part of the solution, and as yet nothing has been done in this area.”