Pete Robinson: 12 year old served drink in pub
Even my elderly mum doesn't believe this but my first beer purchase in a pub was made at the tender age of 12. Straight up!
A sudden torrential downpour drove me into the only shelter, a nearby hostelry. Having double-checked my pocket money I decided to chance it and a cool, glistening half-pint of best bitter sat waiting on the bar.
Please understand I am not condoning underage drinking. It's just that I don't like police 'stings'. It's entrapment. Like the one that has recently left a Northampton publican facing a fine of £10,000 with his licence suspended for three months.
On the surface you could be forgiven for assuming the landlord in question must be criminally irresponsible. He was nicked serving 15 and 16 year old police 'plants' three times on the trot. Obviously a villain this one.
But his was one of 20 premises 'targeted' by the police, of which the underage lads got served at least once in 12 of them. This suggests they were sent in during busiest periods, when the attention of staff is distracted by a sea of faces at the bar waving cash around. And we're not talking fresh-faced pre-pubescent schoolboys here. They would have been carefully selected because at first glance they LOOKED over 18, and were probably coached in behaving accordingly.
With my boyhood experience I could have helped out there. Draw yourself to your full height. Walk slowly, but directly, to the bar. While waiting lean casually on one elbow maintaining a relaxed composure with a calm half-smile. When it's your turn look 'em straight in the eye, deepen your voice then order decisively, as if you EXPECT to be served without question. You probably will be. Should anyone pose the dreaded question, "Are you 18?", then you immediately assume an indignant posture replying, "What? I'm NINETEEN!".
Now I was a big lad at age 12 with sufficient cunning to pass myself off as much older. By the age of 15 few people would have believed I wasn't at least 20. Perfect material for a police sting.
"Nice work laddie. Now mind how you go."
