Breathalyser ‘a new tool for retailers’

Two Spar stores in Cardiff are using breathalysers sold to them by the police to help refuse sales to drunk customers.

The devices support staff at the stores in the difficult task of denying alcohol purchases by intoxicated customers. The £200 devices have been used “hundreds of times already” according to store manager Rohat Hamed.

Azil and Suhail Ahmed, owners of Spar St Mary Street in Cardiff, were inundated with calls after news of the breathalysers went viral, but Suhail told Retail Express that it had been “blown out of proportion”. He added: “We serve thousands of customers. The breathalyser is just a new tool for retailers for use in a tiny minority of cases.”

Section 141 of the Licensing Act says retailers can have their licence revoked for serving drunk customers. Despite a recent Government review of the Licensing Act that recognised “the difficulties of defining drunkenness” in customers, the section is receiving renewed Government focus in an attempt to reduce street and other problematic drinking.

Shopworker’s union (USDAW) leader John Hannett said: “Under the licensing laws, [retailers] have to prevent underage purchases and refuse sales to customers who have already had too much to drink. This can often lead to violence, threats and abuse against the worker.“

One of the retailers now using the breathalyser has first-hand experience of this. In 2009, a shopworker at Spar St Mary Street was the victim of a racially aggravated assault after refusing a sale to an intoxicated customer.

Serve Legal director Ed Heaver told Retail Express that staff can often feel intimidated when refusing purchases. "The better trained staff will tell customers, 'I’m just doing my job'. There’s no silver bullet but better training and resources is reducing non-compliant sales."

Do it: Read how local authorities are forcing retailers to adopt "voluntary" measures to tackle anti-social behaviour through licence reviews