Published on:
28
June 2006
Most video shops in the Clackmannanshire and Stirling area are prepared to sell over-18 video nasties to under-age teenagers.
Trading Standards officers sent a 16-year-old trained volunteer into a number of shops selling videos to try to buy age-restricted 18 certificate DVDs. They found that 86 per cent of shops were prepared to sell video nasties to the youngster.
Of all the shops visited only one asked for ID and only one asked the volunteer what age he or she was. Trading Standards Officer Rosemary McLellan said: "Some of the sales were caused by carelessness of behalf of the individual member of staff.
"They were not paying attention to the customer and were paying lip service to any procedure that their employer had in place to prevent such a sale. We appreciate that they may find it difficult to ask for proof of age, or refuse when they think someone is under age.
"But many young people now carry acceptable identification. Shop assistants should ask for it. There were also circumstances when the sales assistant was obviously unsure of the person's age, but did not ask or refuse."
Trading Standards managers Hugh Hamilton and Neil Chalmers added: "We are disappointed with this result, but it may be because shop staff treat the sale of tobacco, fireworks, lottery tickets and alcohol more seriously, they don't give as much thought to other products in this category, such as DVDs, videos, spray paint, lighter refills and crossbows.
"We will be carrying out further surveys over the year and we urge traders to be more careful."
Stirling Council promotes the PASS accredited Young Scot Proof of Age Card in the Stirling Council area and many businesses use this as a way of enabling them to determine the age of a young person.
Further information and advice can be obtained from Stirling and Clackmannanshire Council's Trading Standards services.
If you wish to report any matter in relation to under-age sales please phone 0845 277 7000 and speak to a member of the Trading Standards team in confidence.