The operation focused on the sale of alcohol to minors across a selection of bars and restaurants in Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa on Friday, 5 June. Sixteen licensed premises were visited during the operation, and five of these failed a compliance check by selling alcohol to a minor.
This operation differed from previous controlled purchase exercises, which primarily targeted off-licence premises such as bottle stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets where alcohol can be removed immediately after purchase. In this instance, the minor purchased alcohol on-site and remained seated within the premises, providing staff with an additional opportunity to assess and verify age. Staff did not take appropriate steps to request identification or confirm the patron’s age and admitted to inspectors they assumed the individual was over 18 years of age and legally able to purchase alcohol.
Tauranga City Council Chief Licensing Inspector Sam Kemp says selling alcohol to a minor is a serious offence.
“This demonstrates clear deficiencies between legal obligations and good practice and the actual behaviour in relation to how some staff at on-licence premises are verifying the age of patrons before selling alcohol. Our team will continue to run such operations to test compliance, ensure public safety and minimise alcohol related harm.”
Although it’s not a legal requirement to verify the age of any patron who appears to be under 25, Sam says licensed premises should consider it good practice in the industry.
“We were surprised by the failure rate of this operation. We had expected that there would be much better compliance from these types of establishments and it’s really disappointing that we have seen these failures from these five premises,” Sam says.
“These types of compliance failures are a good reminder for licensed venues to ensure staff are appropriately trained and vigilant in meeting the requirements of the Act.”
As a result of the non-compliance identified, Tauranga Alcohol Licensing Inspectors will be discussing the failures with relevant parties and lodging suspension applications with the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA). These applications will be in respect of both the managers on duty at the time of the breaches and the licences of the bars and restaurants that failed to meet their legal obligations.
NB: Due to these matters being prepared for enforcement action through ARLA, Council will not be disclosing the name or location of premises involved at this stage.