Invercargill: Controlled Purchase Operation

Invercargill: Controlled Purchase Operation

Southern, 21 February 2014 - In the afternoon of Thursday 20th February Police in conjunction with Public Health South and the Invercargill City Council Licensing Inspector conducted a controlled purchase operation in the Invercargill city.

A controlled purchase operation is one where Police send underage person into licensed premises to test for compliance with the provisions of the Sale and Supply of alcohol Act 2012.

In this case a 17 year old female was sent into 13 assorted licensed premises in the city. They included taverns, restaurants, stand alone bottle stores and other off licensed premises.

Four of the premises visited failed the test. Those premises were the Southland Tavern, Otatara Four Square, Ziffs Cafe Bar and Tuatara Backpackers.

"While four out of thirteen failed is a slight improvement on previous operations it is still a disappointing result. In two of the incidents the sale was made with no questions being asked. If the purchaser appears under the age of 25 years it’s not difficult to ask for ID and do the maths on the ID that's presented. If you’re not good at maths ask a workmate to help. It is also timely to remind licensees, managers and staff that they need to be aware of the provisions of the new Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act. It came into force on 18 December 2013 and there have been a number of changes you need to be aware of".

ENDS

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