United Kingdom: my husband did not sell alcohol to minor yet police wants him to pay £80?

Question

My husband works in a small newly opened off licence shop in UK. He was accused by angry mother that he sold alcohol to her daughter. the day before. He is sure he did not, because it is a small shop, newly opened with few customers and on that day he refused selling alcohol to two girls. However woman complained to police and police gave him a choice of either paying £80 or going to court. I think he should go to court because he did not do it. Will it be expensive for us? we cannot afford hiring a lawyer, with baby coming in one month, we have many expenses now. But I dont want on his record something he has not done! I am sure the girl must have got alcohol somewhere else and she blamed it on the shop where my husband works. How can police give a ticket without any proof ???? So anyone can accuse him without any proof just because he works in off license shop? What are our options?

Answer 1

On the basis that you are in England, Wales or the Scilly Isles I'll try to answer this for you.

In these areas the appropriate legislation is the Licensing Act 2003. I'll try and take you through it in stages.

Section 146 (1) LA 2003 specifies that it is an offence to sell alcohol to an individual under 18.

However there are what are called statutory defences, this means the law recognises and makes provision for some situations to provide a defence, an answer, to the allegation which means the person will be found not guilty.

All the prosecution has to prove is two facts, first that the accused did sell alcohol and secondly it was to a person under 18yrs.

However Section 146 (4) says that it is a defence that

(a) ( the accused ) .. believed that the individual was aged 18 or over, AND ( capitals are my emphasis )

(b) EITHER (i) had taken all reasonable steps to establish the individual's age, OR

(ii) nobody could reasonably have suspected from the individual's appearance that ( the purchaser ) was aged under 18.

You'll see that these give two entirely seperate, stand apart, defences.

So what is treated ' as having taken all reasonable steps to establish ( the purchasers ) age, well they are Section 146 (5) (a) evidence of age was requested AND (b) the evidence would have convinced a reasonable person. ( eg someone produces false, forged proof of age card, forged passsport or similar - they obvioulsy must be forged otherwise the person would be old enough )

On the facts you give your husband can only go down the Section (4) (b)(ii) route of saying whoever he served he obviously never suspected any one from being under age. This route does not require any questioning of the purchaser as the honest belief means no questioning was necessary. I suggest that appearance is not just the clothes a person wears but their demeanour, eye contact, openess not being furtive, all the things that suggest a lawful right to make the purchase.

What if you decide to accept the 'fixed penalty' ? Your call now on if you believe you have a defence as accepting a fixed penalty for alcohol licensing offences is far more serious than a parking ticket. It will count against him in the future. It could stop him getting his own personal licenece to sell alcohol in the future. The police use a tally of fixed penalties and or convictions for selling alcohol under age as evidence to justify closing the premises down.

You do not need a solicitor to defend you in court but it might be worth at least speaking to one before to see your next step.

If your husband is innocent you should refuse to accept the fixed penalty and elect to go for trial. Faced with that the police will have to seriously consider what evidence they have and may well decide to drop it. For the same reasons your husband should refuse to accept any police caution. If it goes to court your husband should try to establish by questioning what the girls were wearing on the day they say they purchased alcohol, it's fair to assume they weren't in school uniform but logically tried to pass themselves of as old enough and to watch that they do not appear to give evidence 'dressed down' to show their juvenile age. If they do he will need to comment upon it no doubt pointing out that anyone would be bound to have noticed, remembered and refused them if they had gone into the shop in school uniform.

For serving offiicers reading this, I am not trying to undermine the serious problem of alcohol sales but it is so easy just to dish out a fixed penalty without testing the evidence.

Sorry this is so long, hope it helps.

Answer 2

If your husband has CCTV then it would be no contest. but by the sounds of it he hasn't (which in this day and age you should think about it as these problems wouldn't occur).

go to court ask what evidence the police have see what was suppose to have been bought and check it against that days till receipts.

see if you can find out if the girls got some one to go in for them and most of all seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau

Answer 3

Tell him to check his till roll for the alleged sale, date and time.  Tell the mother to produce the bottle and have it checked for your husband's fingerprints.  It is the girl's word against his.  There is so far very little evidence.  I don't know why the police want money at this stage..that might be a misunderstanding...selling alcohol to a minor is a serious offence and I don't think they do on-the-spot fines yet.  See a solicitor..your husband's job might be at stake.

Answer 4

What a joke 'innocent until proven guilty'

As you can see that is a lie. Guilty until proven innocent in the UK.

You SHOULD see a lawyer for advice because it's not even clear if he's being charged or just getting a fine. If you are bothered about his record this could end up really messy and costing you a LOT more than 1 appointment with a lawyer getting some advice.

At least speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau. Google your nearest centre. You can get free legal aid

Oh and please consider the possibility that he is actually guilty, as much as you don't want to believe it. There is a chance it could be true.

Answer 5

Tell him to have his day in court as there is no evidence against him. It would appear that by refusing to sell them alcohol they are trying to be spiteful by accusing him of the offence. You don't need a lawyer to tell the truth. Good luck I'm sure the court will see through their little ploy.

Incidentally any lawyer will give you a free 20 minute interview and advise accordingly or you could go to the free citizens advice bureau in your area for further advice.

Answer 6

I suggest he takes the notice that the police issued and request an interview with a higher ranking officer a the police station.  At least he will have the opportunity to put his side of the story.

Answer 7

Get an attorney and do not say one more thing to the police. I am in the U.S. but i know this works everywhere.

An attorney can often get the police to see the light when they are refusing too otherwise. Nothing you say to them will help this situation. This is one persons word against another. Possible two kids words against another. This is a GREAT reason to have video going on in any shop that sells alcohol. Proof positive to a police officer that no alcohol was sold to these minors.

The proof is the girl had alcohol and blamed it on your husband. If your child had alcohol and finally named the place they bought it from, wouldn't you expect the police to listen to you and your child? Especially if their friend agreed that's what happened?

Of course no adult store owner would ever want to agree that they sold alcohol to a minor. So them believing them over you isn't hard to see, when you see it from a distance.

The fact that there should be a receipt somewhere should be helpful. What if they had an older friend come in and get it for them. Than they'd be half telling the truth while protecting their friend.

80 pounds isn't a great amount to have to pay. I believe an attorney could put in something like a no contest, meaning no one is accepting that this happened, but is paying it off anyway. Going to court will be expensive and no guarantee you'll win.

But an attorney is the first thing to do. See what they have to say. Here, in the states, they often offer free apointment to see if they are willing to take on the case and offer a little bit of free advice at the same time.

good luck.  

Answer 8

Fight it! Paying the fine will admit your guilty. Ask about legal aid and if solicitor is necessary with the local council. I would fight my cause without a lawyer anyway.  

Answer 9

go to court and plead your case, there isnt a great deal else you can do

Answer 10

If there is no proof the case will never get to court. So you have no worries... do you?

The £80 sounds like it could be a penalty notice. Accepting a penalty notice is neither an admission of guilt or declaration of innocence, it is just an undertaking to pay the fine in respect of an allegation. They do not constitute a criminal record.

Take your pick.

Answer 11

Yes i would go to court. I would plead not guilty. then they would have to call witnesses get my ploy. Will the girls lie on oath ??

Answer 12

£80 is a PND - penalty notice for disorder.

Please read the document as you do not have to pay it immediately and it does explain how to appeal.

The main problem is that the girl might produce witnesses (her mates) and it would be up to the Court to decide who was telling the truth.

For the future, try to keep a refusals register (if you have a lottery terminal it is a contract condition to do so) use it to record time date of refusals and brief description of person refused.

Please check your licence conditions - CCTV is usually now required as a condition and can obviously help in these sort of cases.

Watch out for test purchasers in the near future; remember 'challenge 21'!

Ref other comment It is clear that it is a fine, one that does not carry a criminal record. Absolute offences have been around for decades - you still have to prove the fact though, which has not been done in this case.

Another thought - were the police officers in uniform? I sometimes work with the local police on underage sales and they, despite my comments, are inclined to issue PNDs while in plain clothes (not legally valid).

Answer 13

He can dmand to know from the Police how they can prove that he was the one who served alcohol to this girl. It is his word against hers which is no proof in a court of law. DON'T Pay the fine.

Answer 14

Get surveillance from that day, and bring it to court and show the judge that he didn't sell to that girl.

The cost of hiring a lawyer will be more than the $80 or whatever, so my advice is you probably would do better without one.

"How can police give a ticket without any proof ???"

They don't need proof.  

It's up to the prosecution side to prove anything, not the police.