SBPA hits out at Dundee bottle scheme
The Scottish Beer & Pub Association (SBPA) has called for the City of Dundee Licensing Board not to proceed a bottle marking scheme for licensed premises.
The Board has consulted on the introduction of a voluntary scheme in the city which could include pubs which make off-sales of alcohol. Under the scheme pubs would be asked to write a code on bottles using an ultraviolet pen. This code can then be read by police if they later come across a youth with alcohol, so it can be identified where the bottle was sold.
The SBPA opposed the move in its response to the consultation on the issue by the Licensing Board. Patrick Browne, chief executive of SBPA: "Our members are committed to effectively tackling the problem of underage sales of alcohol, not only in Dundee but across the whole of Scotland.
"However, we don't believe that the Board has produced adequate evidence from a pilot scheme in the city run over a few months earlier in the year that bottle marking generates any tangible benefits as regards detecting more offences involving underage sales, or indeed in detecting so called proxy or agent purchases of alcohol by those over the age of eighteen for underage youngsters."
He said the Board does not currently have the power under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 to introduce a mandatory scheme in the city. He has called on police to use their current powers to test purchase premises.
The Board will discuss the issue at its next meeting on 18th August 2011.
