Four Northland stores face action for selling alcohol to minors

Sergeant Tai Patrick is concerned that alcohol is still being sold to minors.

Four Northland retail outlets are facing action after police say they sold alcohol to minors in an sting operation.

Police have expressed disappointment at the results of controlled purchase operations (CPOs) at 18 licensed premises in the Bay of Islands and 19 in the Kaipara last week.

Volunteers aged 16 and 17 were sold alcohol at two locations in each district.

Alcohol harm prevention officer Constable Rasau Kalivati (Kerikeri) said he could not stress strongly enough that liquor licence holders should ask for identification if in doubt regarding a customer's age.

"If identification is produced, the seller must verify the correct age before making a sale. I do not expect that sales of alcohol should be occurring," he said.

"As a community we need to have confidence that licence holders will not sell alcohol to our youth, thereby giving young people the opportunity to drink unsupervised and potentially harmfully."

Constable Kalivati's counterpart in Kaipara/Whangarei, Sergeant Tai Patrick, said it was concerning that the underage volunteers had been able to access alcohol from two licensed premises so easily.

"These sales are particularly concerning, given it is in the lead-up to the festive season," he said.

"The fallout from youth accessing alcohol is well documented."

CPOs were part of an ongoing programme to assess compliance with the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 to address access to alcohol by minors.