Staff at two shops in the central Borders were caught selling alcohol to a 16-year-old girl during a police operation aimed at tackling the sale of drink to underagers, a court heard this week.
Twenty-three-year-old Christopher Cassie, of Laurel Grove, Galashiels – a part-time sales assistant at Spar in Melrose High Street – admitted selling alcohol to a person under 18 on December 7. Licence manager Alexander Fairbairn, 43, of Dean Park, Newstead, pleaded guilty to allowing the sale of drink to an underager.
Prosecuting at Selkirk Sheriff Court, Graham Fraser told how the shop was targeted in a test-purchase operation by police. A 16-year-old girl went into the premises around 9pm and purchased a bottle of Sourz.
Mr Fraser said: “No proof of ID was asked for. Fairbairn said that he was not in the premises at the time and that full training procedures were in place, although they had not worked.”
Both men were each fined £200. Similar fines were also imposed on Shirley Logan and Steven Wilson when the same girl and another 16-year-old were allowed to buy alcohol at Tweedbank Premier Store on the same date.
Logan, 42, of Cherry Bank, Tweedbank, admitted selling alcohol to two 16-year-olds at the store, while licence holder Wilson, 38, of Tweedbank Drive, Tweedbank, pleaded guilty to allowing the sale of drink to two persons under 18.
Logan told police: “I made a mistake. I should have been on the ball, but I wasn’t.”
She said she had been distracted by a group of young men wearing hoodies.