School's Out For Summer

As we approach the end of June , it is a timely reminder that  it is that time of year when both GCSE and A-level exams are finishing across the country.

Many of those having taken exams will be celebrating the end of a long and gruelling few weeks. In addition many schools will organise celebratory Proms at licensed venues to mark the end of exams and “graduation” of pupils.

Clearly the majority of those celebrating will be 16 – 17 years old and operators need to be extra vigilant at this time to ensure that robust training or refresher training is undertaken to prevent the sale of alcohol to those under 18 years of age. Staff should also be made aware of the risk of proxy purchases by those who have ID for those who do not. In addition operators should ensure all training records are upto date and robust systems  such as Challenge 21 or Challenge 25 are in place (especially if conditioned on the Premises Licence) and are rigorously operated to prevent under age sales.

We would also remind operators to check their licences to ensure they comply with any conditions on their restricting access to their premise of those under 18 years old.

As a final point premise may wish to ensure they have systems in place for dealing with vulnerable younger people even if they are over 18 years old. One such scheme is “Ask for Angela”.