A LICENSEE whose staff twice sold alcohol to 15-year-olds has escaped punishment after satisfying a court he did all he could to prevent such sales.

Dorset County Council's Trading Standards carried out a test purchase last October when a teenage girl managed to buy a bottle of Strongbow from Arkwrights newsagents in High Street, Swanage, without being asked her age or for any ID.

In a second test carried out at Jenkins newsagents, also in High Street, Swanage, this March 29, a 15-year-old boy was able to purchase four 500ml cans of Budweiser lager, again without having his age checked.

Owner and licensee of both premises Stephen Wright, of Northbrook Road, Swanage, admitted his staff had sold the alcohol but told Poole Magistrates' Court he had drummed into his employees the importance of not selling alcohol to underage teens and said he was very pro-active in stopping such sales.

He said: "I know I'm applying the rules and I know I'm telling my staff to apply the rules."

The court heard Mr Wright had a book that staff were encouraged to fill in whenever they refused a sale so he could check on their diligence and that he had sent several staff on training courses and regularly talked to them about refusing sales and checking ages.

He had also tried to set up prompts on the till systems, but these did not work because of software problems.

The employees who sold the alcohol told the court both incidents were personal mistakes and that Mr Wight could not have done more to prevent sales to youngsters.

First published: August 11