Porirua retailers continue to sell alcohol to minors

A Porirua supermarket and two other local premises have been referred to the Liquor Licensing Authority for selling alcohol to minors in a recent sting.

A controlled purchase operation (CPO) was conducted last weekend by Police, the District Licencing Agency and the Hutt Valley District Health Board.

Senior Sergeant Steve Sargent says two volunteers, aged 15 and 17 visited a total of 14 off-licences and 7 on-licences over the course of the evening. They obtained sales at two of the off-licences and one of the on-licence bars.

The other 18 premises refused to serve or admit them to the premises after being told that they had no identification, or after having asked them how old they were.

"One of the off-licences was a supermarket which was caught in a similar CPO only two months ago. In this instance, the 15 year-old volunteer had selected a small wine gift pack consisting of a small bottle of wine (which contained 12 per cent alcohol) a small bag of cashew nuts and three chocolates, all of which were in a see-through bag and had a red R18 tag attached."

Senior Sergeant Sargent says the item was not recognised as alcohol and didn't require the volunteer to produce any identification, despite the gift pack containing alcohol.

"It's disappointing that we still have retailers prepared to sell alcohol to minors. We will continue to carry out these CPOs and anyone caught flouting the law can expect to be caught."

Applications have been made to the Liquor Licensing Authority for all three premises to have their licences suspended.