9:18am Thursday 15th May 2008
By Christine Sexton
FIVE out of seven shops in Castle Point and Rochford sold alcohol to a 15-year-old girl as part of an undercover operation.
Essex County Council Trading Standards carried out the operation and said it was disappointed by the number of shops in the two areas that sold booze to the youngster.
It warned that shops face losing their licences unless the situation improves.
Trading Standards carried out a test purchasing operation in the Castle Point and Rochford districts on Saturday, where five out of seven shops tested sold alcohol to an underage volunteer.
Each of the shops which failed the test purchase has been warned and investigations are continuing.
The shops will also be retested by trading standards and any that are caught out again could lose their licences.
Roger Walters, Essex County Council's executive member for Trading Standards, said: "These are very poor results, and will not be taken lightly.
"Trading Standards takes a zero tolerance approach to underage drinking, and we will take appropriate action if shops continue to ignore our warnings.
"These shops risk losing their alcohol licences if results do not improve."
Sgt Paul Saunders, from Benfleet police station, works closely with the Rochford and Castle Point Crime Reduction Partnership and said the figures were "depressing".
He said: "This is very concerning and a very backward step that there are so many shops willing to serve underage people.
"From a police perspective, we do deal with young people who make themselves vulnerable by being in a drunken state.
"Sometimes alcohol plays a great contribution to a lot of antisocial behaviour."
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