By Gordon Berry

A SHERIFF has strongly criticised Fife Licensing Board over its decision to suspend the off-sale licence at a shop where drink was sold to 16-year-olds on two occasions several months apart.

Sheriff James Hendry allowed an appeal by A. M. Landsburgh (St Andrews) Limited in relation to a store in the town’s Tom Morris Drive, which will be seen as a setback to the work of police fighting underage drinking.

The board meeting in May suspended the licence over the sale of alcohol to under-age persons as part of a test sales programme supported by Fife Constabulary.

In its reasons for the three-month suspension, the board said that in each test-purchase failure, the time and steps taken to check the customers’ ages were insufficient and there had been underlying deficiencies in staff training.

The board had concluded training was not sufficiently robust and the pursuer did not have processes in place to ensure the effectiveness of that training.

The board had also noted the police view that Fife suffers from the effects of underage alcohol consumption, that alcohol misuse was one of the main causes of costs to health boards and that in most areas of Fife there are calls about youth disorder.

Sheriff Hendry, however, said suspension of a licence was a serious matter, only justified if the licence holder is no longer a fit and proper person to hold a licence. He had no hesitation in allowing the appeal and it seemed to him that the board did not have sufficient material before it to justify its conclusion.

“I cannot envisage any reasonable board coming to the conclusion they did on the facts here.

“Coming to their decision, they appear to have ignored or placed little weight on the successful tests or on the training and other measures taken by the pursuers.”

He also said there were “worrying indications” that the board seemed to exclude the possibility of human error, or possible deliberate misconduct by serving staff.

“… I have formed the view that the board did not have sufficient material before it to come to the conclusion that they did. It would therefore be a pointless exercise to remit the case back.

“In addition there are concerns from the language used in the judgment that the board had a fixed view of this matter and there is a strong likelihood that attitudes have hardened.”

The sheriff also awarded the pursuers’ expenses in the case.

Frank Jensen, team leader for Fife Council’s District Court and regulation team, said that the board had noted the decision to uphold the appeal against suspension of the off-sale licence.

“The sheriff has provided clear information in his written judgment on how the board should approach complaints about sales of alcohol to young people and the board will give these full consideration when deliberating on any such complaints in the future,” he said.

Fife police did not want to comment on the sheriff’s decision.