Underage drinking ‘test purchase’ operation hailed a success in Lancaster and Morecambe

Over a two-night period, police licensing, police licensing PCSOs and Trading Standards carried out Operation Minion, visiting 32 licenced premises across the district.

None served alcohol to the underage person.

Officers used an underage person to enter a licensed premises and attempt to buy alcohol shadowed by plain clothes police and trading standards officers.

The underage children that are used on these operations are aged between 14 and 16 and are clearly underage.

Morecambe PCSO Pete Atkinson said: "All licensed premises work to ‘Challenge 25’ now which means any person who looks 25 or under is asked for age check verification. There are no excuses if a sale is made to an underage child.

“These operations are run to ensure all children are safe from the harm underage drinking can bring.

“Over the two day period there were 32 premises visited and all passed with no sales made to the underage child.

“Whilst these are good results, we will continue to carry out methods such as test purchases to ensure children are protected from the harms of alcohol.”