Trading Standards Officers from Barking and Dagenham Council carried out an operation to ensure that local businesses were not selling alcohol to young people last week. 

The operation on Thursday 4 August saw a young person, under the age of 18, attempting to purchase alcohol from a number of different businesses in Barking Town Centre.

It was a successful day for the Trading Standards team as all 20 businesses visited passed the test and did not serve alcohol to the minor. This follows another a positive operation, last month, where 23 local businesses passed an underage tobacco purchase test.

It’s illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase any type of alcohol in England, and local businesses in Barking and Dagenham have proved they’re following the rules by not selling to the youngster.

Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “It’s pleasing to see that of all the businesses tested, none of them sold alcohol to the young person.

“Businesses need to be extra vigilant as we’re in the summer holidays period and I’m glad to see that our local businesses are.”

The council will continue to run these test purchase operations and has noticed that the level of compliance has increased since last year.