“As quoted above, this is a cack test.

I ran an off licence for some time, and oddly was once a teenager.

If you want to increase your chances of being served and are not of the legal age you change your game. Go for Bitter, Wine (£6per bottle and up) and avoid lager, alcopops and spirits.

Also, when the Police do these tests LEGALLY! (tsktsk courier) If asked their age the participant has to confess to being under age. Sounds to me like your chap did not.

I got a better study for you. How many 15 year olds can walk into your above list and get served, who gives two shoveneys whether a 17 year old can get a beer, the poor sucker can have sexual intercourse, drive a car, get married to the partner of his choice or join the army - yet still not allowed to drink in pubs.*

*Young Ones, 1982
How times have changed... err wait a mo..”

“Is the adult who got a 17 yr old to go into a off licence and knowingly participated in this offence going to be dealt with. Im sure it is a fine these days, and surely highlights the other issue all licensees have to face is adult buying drink for kids.

rather than highlight this issue why not show the good work being done and come up with new ideas to help.”

“It is all to easy to jump on the have a go at today's youth bandwagon. This article and others about underage drinking, are all part of vogue to undermine the children in our community. They are our future and we should cherish them, rather than persecute them. Underage drinking is not an extensive issue; traffic congestion is, can you not campaign against this genuine blight on all our lives instead?”

“Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please.”

“A good point made by James of TW. Ian to quote you 'With this in mind we sought to test how easily underage teenagers could buy alcohol' It is the 'could' bit that intrigues. I assume the 9 premises actually sold the underage teenager alcohol?? Or did he merely go in and ask the price of wine/beer/alcopops then leave?? Is that illegal to ask a price? I am sure the Courier wouldn't just try to catch out the local retailers.”

“Ian,

What I am still confused about though is whether Oliver actually bought alcohol in each of the shops highlighted. If he did then fair enough those shops should be highlighted and they should tighten up their procedures around under age sales. However, if he didn't then surely the shops in question have done absolutely nothing wrong. I would appreciate it if you would clarify this point and also agree that a sale includes the payment of the goods.

Thanks,
James”

“Due to your article i have now lost my job, being blamed for something i had not done.”

“So underage drinking has been highlighted as a concern and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council have decided it will be the subject of a scrutiny report. And what, you felt the need to lend a helping hand? Could you not have waited for the results of the report, which I daresay will be carried out with input from the police and trading standards who can actually carry out test purchases legally?

You can say that this story is in the public interest all you like - I am the public, I am not interested, I think it is irresponsible and the only reason behind it was to *shock horror* the public into buying your paper. I for one will not be doing that again.

The set up was shoddy, the results questionable, and rather than being shocked and appalled that a posh 17 year old could potentially buy a bottle of expensive wine in this town (OMG the world is falling to pieces what will we do!!!) I feel sorry for the retailers that you 'named and shamed' who are undoubtedly struggling due to the economic climate and generally do a good job of stopping underage purchases.”

“Mr Read, if you are so concerned with public interest, why did you send Olly in to some premium establishments & others asking for premium products. Teenagers drinking purchase CHEAP & AFFORDABLE ALCOHOL - NOT £15+ bottles of wine. Also why have you not focused your efforts on pubs like Wetherspoons who regularly serve CHEAP AFFORDABLE alcohol to those underage. Whilst your at it with your concern for public interest, perhaps you can do something about the idiots who speed round the town in their boy racer astra's, corsa's etc showing nor regard for pedestrians. It's good to see that you links with the ghastly Daily Mail have extended to editorial content”

“I have watched the debate on this story with interest.
We are as open to public scrutiny as anyone else so I always welcome comment on our stories, even if those comments are critical of us.
The full details of how our test worked were made clear to our newspaper readers but I accept that our online readers could have been left with questions, having only read the main story.
Attached to the story above are now separate stories detailing precisely what we did, the background to our test purchases and the responses from those shops who failed our test.
I stand by our story, which was carried out firmly in the public interest.
The previous week the council named underage drinking as the top concern within Tunbridge Wells.
With this in mind we sought to test how easily underage teenagers could buy alcohol - and I was shocked by how slack many shops' underage sales policies seemed to be.
Oliver is 17 so each of the 12 shops we tested should have challenged his age. Only three did.
The responses from those shops who failed are, on the whole, very frank in admitting failings, while some have pledged to tighten up on their procedures.
We have exposed a problem in Tunbridge Wells that leads to serious problems within our society.
I hope that by us having publicly identified those failings, all shops - and not just those we tested - will review their underage sale policies to solve this problem.”