Mary Reid

... is illegal, of course. The Trading Standards people and Police at Kingston have for many years worked with a small group of under 18s who make test purchases. The young mystery shoppers try to buy alcohol in off licences and supermarkets and in the past several traders have been prosecuted for underage sales.

But some young people try to get round this by hanging around outside off licences and asking adults to buy drink for them. That, too, is illegal.

Down here in Chessington and Hook the local Safer Neighbourhood Team have tackled this on two fronts. First, they have enlisted the help of all the local licensees, who keep a watch out for this happening, and hand out leaflets explaining that it is illegal to buy alcohol for a person under 18. The licensees keep a logbook of all attempted underage sales, and any suspected adult go-betweens.

Second, the police have posted themselves outside one or two shops for two hours at a time - not surprisingly no-one tried the trick while they were there, but the police did notice one or two youngsters lurking and obviously hoping they would go away.