 Licensees face appearing before Swansea Magistrates |
Bar staff and off licence workers in Swansea are being handed �80 on-the-spot fines for serving under-age customers. Police fined 10 people for selling alcohol to youngsters under 18 in a joint operation with trading standards.
In the build-up to the bank holiday weekend officers warned they would be using fixed penalties to tackle drunken and anti-social behaviour in the city.
Licensees could also face court appearences and fines of up to �1,000.
During the two-day operation police and council officers visited 16 pubs and off-licenses and found that 10 of them were willing to sell alcohol to 14, 15 and 16-year-old test purchasers without any questions asked.
 |  Those selling alcohol have to stop guessing a customer's age |
Acting chief inspector Mitch Davies from Swansea Central Police Station said those working behind bars and shop counters had a role to play in tackling drunken behaviour.
"The trade needs to be aware that they cannot be complacent and need to play their part in reducing underage drinking," he said.
Divisional trading standards officer David Picken said a mix of locally and nationally owned pubs and off-licences were targeted.
Coordinated operation
He said some publicised a policy of asking proof of age from anyone thought to be under 21.
"The test purchasing operation found that the majority of on and off licences are simply not asking young customers to prove their entitlement to buy alcohol.
"Those selling alcohol have to stop guessing a customer's age and start asking them to prove that they are old enough to buy legally or risk the consequences."
The weekend saw the first coordinated operation by South Wales Police using spot fines.
Forces were given the power to issue fixed penalties in 2004 but the South Wales said it had waited to see how effective they were in other areas before using them.
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