Knox welfare workers find up to a third of bottle shops selling alcohol to youngsters without asking for proof of age

A third of bottle shops are selling alcohol to young people without checking ID, an undercover operation by welfare workers in the outer east has revealed.

Bottle shop salespeople are selling alcohol to underage kids, an undercover operation in the KNox area revealed.

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A COVERT operation by a Knox welfare group has found a third of bottle shops they investigated selling alcohol to young people without checking for identification.

Representatives from Communities That Care Knox — a partnership of 25 organisations, including Knox Council, Victoria Police and Eastern Access Community Health — went undercover at 27 bottle shops across Knox during a month last year to check if they were selling alcohol to underage customers.

The check involved a legal-aged person who looked underage trying to buy alcohol, with an independent monitor present.

The exercise found a third of bottle shops sold alcohol without checking ID cards.

Letters have now been sent to shops asking them to improve their practices.

The group wants the practice reduced to between five and 10 per cent within the next year.

They will be checking those stores again shortly and then checking more liquor stores again in July.

Program co-ordinator Deborah Cocks said they didn’t take any further action again the stores, or report them to police.

“The type of intervention is really just acting as a concerned community member to check and see if people are doing what they are meant to be doing,” Ms Cocks said.

“We put a bit of faith that the intervention is enough — it’s proven to be effective in changing behaviours.

“We’re checking because we feel as a community we have a responsibility to protect young people.

“We’re letting them know by letter that that is what they’re doing wrong, and we would expect the next time we go and do a random check that they would have discussed it with all their staff members and got them to really make sure they check identification at all times.”

Ms Cocks said she then had phone calls from several store managers to say they committed to abiding by the law.

One manager told her they often had older people outside their store negotiating with teens to buy alcohol, and when staff saw this happen, they refused to sell alcohol.

The organisation is planning to do the exercise again this year, and visit more stores.

According to a Communities that Care Youth Survey done by Deakin University in 2014, one in three Knox Year 8 students reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days and one in six Year 8 students reported binge drinking in the past two weeks.

Communities that Care chief executive and Deakin University Professor John Toumbourou said there were serious dangers in providing alcohol to underage people.

“The national health guidelines clearly state that the safest option is for young people not to use alcohol before they turn 18,” Prof Toumbourou said.