Identification checks at a number of on licensed premises in South Auckland have vastly improved on last year according to Auckland Council’s Alcohol Licensing Team Leader Anita Marsh.
“We visited 12 premises during a Controlled Purchase Operation on 18 July with only one failure. The business that failed had not been tested before,” she said.
Council's Alcohol Licensing Unit, alongside police conduct Controlled Purchase Operations regularly at on and off licensed premises to test compliance, with laws against selling alcohol to minors, under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
“Many of the on licensed premises that failed last year out south passed this year which means their testing measures have improved,” Anita said.
Those measures included better identification checks and using point of sale age checking systems and calculators.
“Asking for ID and then calculating the correct age from that identification are basic requirements for anyone selling alcohol.”
A total of over 300 checks have been made at both on-and-off license premises across Auckland this in the last 12 months – with 20 breaches of the Act.
The council will now refer the one failure to the Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority (ARLA) where penalties can include temporary closures.
ARLA decisions are available to view at nzlii.org
