Kid, 10, buys booze in liquor-store sting
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Kid, 10, buys booze in liquor-store sting
Sunday, 01 March 2009
Aseries of undercover stings involving minors buying liquor has revealed shocking results, with a 10-year-old child being allowed to make a purchase.
The revelations come at the same time as the Law Commission conducts a full-scale review of liquor laws because of the "high prevalence of hazardous drinking" among Kiwi youth.
Three recent covert investigations conducted by , TV3's consumer watchdog show Target and police used dozens of children aged under 18 who attempted to buy liquor. Before then buyers needed to be 20 years old.
The legal age for purchasing alcohol is 18 and has been since 1999.
The newspaper instructed the actress to select one bottle of white wine and take it to the counter without producing identification.
Last week sent a 17-year-old girl into 10 liquor outlets throughout Auckland.
She used a Visa card with no available credit so that the transaction would fail.
The stores that agreed to sell alcohol were Southmall Liquor, Manurewa Liquor, Three Kings Liquor Store, Onehunga Liquor Centre, Super Liquor Clendon, Kingsland Liquor Centre and Liquor Galaxy Kingsland.
Of the 10 outlets visited, seven swiped the underage customer's card. One said he thought it was satisfactory to sell to the minor because his employee noticed the actress was "with two older guys who were outside the shop".
Some of the offending store owners told they were reviewing their policies and would counsel staff.
The findings of ' sting were mirrored in at least two other recent probes.
All of the sting results were passed to police on Friday.
The producer of TV3's Target which screens on Tuesday at 7.
The producer of TV3's Target which screens on Tuesday at 7. Of those, nine agreed to sell liquor.
The show sent a 17-year-old actor to 10 Canterbury outlets.
Then, unbelievably, three of the offending seven stores agreed to sell liquor to a 13-year-old.
A 15-year-old then attempted to purchase from the offending stores seven of those agreed to go ahead with a further illegal transaction.
Target Producer Simon Roy said the results showed retailers were willing to flout liquor laws and were happy to disregard the harmful affects alcohol has on youngsters. Of those three stores, one agreed to sell to a 10-year-old. The results were really incredible," Roy said.
"This was the worse year ever.
Target passed their results onto Canterbury police who in January conducted their own controlled purchase operation of the nine offending stores and had similar results.
A Target sting in 1999 exposed a Wellington mini-market who sold to an 11-year-old without checking identification.
Of those, 25 percent failed the test and have been referred to the Liquor Licensing Authority.
Of those, 25 percent failed the test and have been referred to the Liquor Licensing Authority.
Senior Sergeant Ben Offner told he arranged up to 10 stings each year and each time those holding manager certificates were caught bending the rules.
He said the key was "education and enforcement" but the latter was more effective. Offner had been working with Law Commission staff as part of their review into the Sale of Liquor Act which began in August and is due to be completed in June next year.
In a speech last week at the Pan Liquor Industry Symposium, Law Commission President Sir Geoffrey Palmer said some of the possible outcomes from the commission's review included adjusting the drinking age, restricting drinking hours and advertising and reducing blood alcohol levels for driving.
"This is a subject that touches many aspects of the New Zealand community and we need to get it right," Palmer said.
The Sale of Liquor Act says anyone caught trading liquor with a person under 18 can be fined up to $10,000 or have their licence suspended for a maximum of seven days.