Prosecute kids who try it on

It has to be recognised that Governments do not like to be seen to be punishing children - it is not "politically correct". This may explain why the policy for so many police forces is that they do not take any action against youngsters who attempt to buy drinks in pubs or produce fake ID.

But in my long experience, the key "criminal act" which is taking place, according to the 1964 and 2003 Licensing Acts, is an attempt to purchase alcohol.

There is actually no requirement to prove that a sale has taken place. It is quite sufficient to found a prosecution on the evidence that the young person asked for alcohol, produced a fake ID or placed alcohol in a supermarket basket and approached the checkout.

In particular, the production of a fake ID demonstrates more clearly than anything else the fact that there is a "guilty intent" - the key element to sustain a prosecution.

A fake ID means that you know that you are underage, but you are trying to hoodwink the licensee into giving you something that you ought not to be buying.

So perhaps instead of widely publicising the number of licensees who have failed test

purchasing exercises, the police should spend a little of the support cash they receive in charging one or two of the youngsters who have been caught red-handed with counterfeit proof of age cards, and then loudly announcing the results in the locality.

Until youngsters get the message that

buying alcohol under age is actually a criminal act and can be punished, they will see the whole exercise, as I wrote recently, as a game that is harmless and a rite of passage. I doubt that there is a single one of them who spare a moment's thought for the licensee or the problems that he faces when yet another sting is successful, or when they announce, when caught in the street, which pub they were drinking in.

Of course the trade cannot escape responsibility. But the holders of fake IDs should face the music too.