Takeaway in the time of coronavirus and children and young people

Given the current shut down of our entire sector and particularly bars and restaurants I know many of you will be  contemplating takeaway services which of course the latest regulations actually allow.

I thought it might be useful just to let you know briefly about the law and concerns around the remote sales of alcohol.

The Licensing Act 2003 seeks as one of its main objectives to protect children and this objective lies at the heart of the concerns about remote sales of alcohol. The Act introduced a raft of measures to protect children by way of potential prosecution of offences and imposition of criminal penalties. Two of the key elements here are sales of alcohol to children and delivering alcohol to children – there are many others not pertinent to this note.

As you will note from your own premises licence there are mandatory conditions at the beginning which are common to licences across the country. Breach of these could lead to a review of the licence and prosecution also.

The mandatory conditions that the premises licence holder must have an age verification policy in place in relation to the sales and supply of alcohol. This means that in the same way as you check that an individual is over 18 when selling to them in bar you should also carry on the same checks over the telephone or via the web if they are seeking to purchase remotely. If they are paying by credit card its usually a good indication that they are over 18 but it could be a 16 or 17 year old making the purchase on a parents card so further checks will needed upon delivery. The supermarkets are geared up for this but you may not be used to this in your own premises. You will need to develop policies in this respect.

You should also adhere to the age verification policy and this is the duty of the DPS according to the condition.

The Home Office guidance suggests that this condition does relate to companies that sell alcohol remotely and should be shown at or before the point of service. This is easy in a live bar but places responsibility  on the delivery agent where the sale is remote. If there is any suspicion upon delivery at the door that the person who effected the sale is under 18 then there should be no delivery. Again, you should develop policies for your own delivery or through agents.

Another section of the Act deals with delivery of alcohol to children and it is important to note that another offence is created here if the DPS  knowingly sells alcohol to an under 18.

There is an exemption from prosecution where the delivery of alcohol to an under 18 is made at a place where the buyer lives or works but if there is any suspicion about the buyer on the doorstep the delivery should be refused so as to avoid any future potential charge of making a sale to an under 18.

This is very much a potted version of the law on this issue but we can help further in developing policies or advising on uncertain situations.