An underage girl who tried to purchase alcohol in Ross was successful in Gwalia Stores and Somerfield, earning these stores an £80 fixed penalty for the offence.

In a joint operation between Herefordshire Council's Trading Standards service and the West Mercia Constabulary, several retailers failed to follow the law when it comes to selling alcohol to minors.

On the evening of Tuesday, August 26th, officers from both organisations used a 16-year old girl to attempt to buy alcohol in a number of outlets in Ross and Ledbury. She was successful on five occasions. Fixed penalty notices were issued to three supermarkets, one mini-supermarket and a small store across the two towns. Countywide, out of 56 attempts, 19 alcohol sales were made to the 16-year-old volunteers.

PC Dave Hamilton from Ledbury Police, who was a part of the operation, said: "There were many places where staff were on the ball and refused to serve the girl. This was particularly the case with the off-licences we tried; our girl was unsuccessful on every occasion. Local businesses selling alcohol must be aware that underage drinking can very often be a factor in anti-social behaviour. By restricting sales to over 18s, this will reduce the risk of youngsters getting tipsy or drunk and falling foul of the law."

PC Hamilton said that further test-purchase operations like this are planned across the county between Trading Standards and the local police.

Tim Thorne, principal trading standards officer, said a one in three failure rate is the highest there has ever been in this county. He said: "We expected a very low number of sales following the council's regulatory committee suspension of four alcohol licences back in May due to underage sales.

"Clearly the message has not got to as many retailers as we would like. The very minimum precaution we expect retailers to take is to have a strict policy of insisting on ID for anyone who looks under 21."