St Albans passes underage booze test

2:48pm Thursday 21st February 2008

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OFF-LICENCES in St Albans managed to avoid falling foul of an undercover trading standards operation to catch shops serving alcohol to youngsters.

Seven shops across Hertfordshire were caught, but all three St Albans stores visited refused to serve teenagers working for a county-wide project.

County Councillor Richard Smith, cabinet member for community safety, said: "We were pleased to discover that the majority of shops were abiding by the law, but unfortunately there were some that decided to ignore it.

""Underage sales of alcohol or cigarettes is not something that we are prepared to tolerate.

"If a customer looks under 21, then they should be asked to prove that they are 18."

Hertfordshire Trading Standards is investigating the circumstances of each offences and will consider imposing fixed penalty fines of £80 or prosecution.