Police and pubs team up to tackle trouble

South Yorkshire Police are teaming up with pubs and clubs over the Christmas and New Year period in a bid to stop nuisance louts and tackle underage drinking.

A team of officers will be going into pubs and looking at all the procedures they have in place to minimise disruption, while underage youngsters have been recruited for “stings”.

Chief Insp Shaun Morley said: “We hope that we can keep crime and antisocial behaviour to a minimum during a busy period.

“Each pub is different and has different concerns, issues and needs.

“Therefore by working with them and advising them on a one-to-one basis, each area can be sorted.

“We aim to help them understand the importance of having robust procedures in place, preventing any anti-social behaviour from happening in or around their premises.

“This is something which can subsequently have an effect on their licensing conditions.”

The areas which police will be looking at include management, security, health and safety, crime prevention and drugs to name a few.

Teenagers will be sent into pubs to test whether bar staff observe the law on serving to under 18s.

If the youngsters are served, police will return to inform the licensee they have failed in a test purchase operation.

For all those premises that fail, a second test will be conducted later and if they fail that, they will be shut for 48 hours.

Lee Mills, general manager at Rotherham’s Pop nightclub in Ship Hill and Pubwatch chairman, was in favour of the idea.

“The reason for the scheme is to ensure that everyone is being vigilant and running venues responsibly,” he said.

“Everyone is aware of the law and that you have to be over 18 to be served alcohol or enter such venues.

“As we all know, on occasions it’s possible for some people to slip through the net.”Chief Insp Morley added: “We want to tackle underage drinking over the Christmas period and if we can get the licensed premises to be extra vigilant then we are someway to achieving this.

“We want licensed premises to work with us and take responsibility when it comes to underage drinking.

“If they are caught twice, we have decided that tougher action is needed and they will be instructed to close, in what can be their busiest time of year.

“By having such robust consequences in place,we are hoping that everyone will think twice about serving someone that looks underage without a valid form of ID.”