SNAP shines light on the sale of alcohol to under-age young people
Posted on 21 Dec 2023
A recent investigation into underage sale of alcohol was recently undertaken across a number of shops in the Irvine and Kilwinning areas.
As a result of this, the damning findings by the Safer North Ayrshire Partnership (SNAP) show that this is still a significant issue in the area.
Officers from the Partnership carried out checks at nine premises in the two towns – with only three passing the inspection.
The other six were found to be selling to underage young people and were all given a warning with the promise of further, stricter punishments if caught again.
SNAP is a multi-agency group – including North Ayrshire Council Trading Standards, Housing, the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, the Adult and Child Protection Committees, Police Scotland, The Third Sector Interface, Public Health Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue and Community Justice Ayrshire – with the remit of making North Ayrshire a safe and secure place to live in.
The recent investigation into the sale of under-age alcohol is the latest exercise undertaken by SNAP.
Earlier this year, a similar operation was carried out. 23 test purchase visits for Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Products were conducted, of which 4 four failed.
Councillor Tony Gurney, Cabinet Member for Green Environment and Economy, said: “The findings are clearly very disappointing and worrying but we hope that this exercise will help educate these premises to change their practices and show a far more responsible attitude to the sale of under-age alcohol.
“The Safer North Ayrshire Partnership is there to look after our communities and make them safer places for everyone. It was set up to allow these different agencies to work together on shared issues.
“We will continue to carry out exercises and work together to try and make North Ayrshire a safer place to live.”