Police refuse to implement Law (s.141 Licensing Act 2003) to stop sales of alcohol to drunks

Mark Hoban MP on Wednesday 19th March asked the Home Office how many prosecutions for sale of alcohol to a drunk person have been pursued in each criminal justice area in each of the last 10 years; and how many resulted in conviction.

They provided this information via Vernon Croaker Minister at the Home Office in a Written Parliamentary answer ;

The following table provides information on the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for sale of alcohol to a drunken person, under section 141 of the Licesing Act 2003. The data has been broken down by police force area.

Data is provided for 2004 to 2006 only as prior to the Licensing Act 2003 coming into force, data for the offence was not held to the level of detail required.

In addition to court proceedings, the offence was added to the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme on 4 April 2005. Data has been provided for the number issued by police force area in 2005 and 2006.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts found guilty at all courts and the number of penalty notices for disorder issued for the sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk under the licensing act 2003 section 141, by police force area, England and Wales 2004 to 2006( 1, 2)
	Proceeded against at magistrates court			Found guilty at all courts			Penalty notices for disorder issued
Police force area	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006	2005	2006
Avon and Somerset	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bedfordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
British Transport police	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	1
Cambridgeshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Cheshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Cleveland	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
Cumbria	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6
Derbyshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Devon and Cornwall	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1
Dorset	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Durham	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Essex	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gloucestershire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Greater Manchester	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3
Hampshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1
Hertfordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Humberside	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Kent	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	1
Lancashire	—	—	1	—	—	—	4	4
Leicestershire	—	—	—	—	—	—	8	2
Lincolnshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
London, City of	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Merseyside	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Metropolitan	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	7
Norfolk	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Northamptonshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Northumbria	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Nottinghamshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
South Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
Staffordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4
Suffolk	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Surrey	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Sussex	—	—	—	—	—	—	7	1
Thames Valley	—	—	1	—	—	1	—	—
Warwickshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
West Mercia	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	—
West Midlands	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
West Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1
Wiltshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3
Dyfed Powys	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gwent	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North Wales	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5
South Wales	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
England and Wales	—	—	2	—	—	1	32	47
n/a = Not applicable. (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (2) Court proceedings data are provided on the principal offence basis, PND data are a count of tickets issued. Sharp eyed observers will note that less than one person a week is found guilty of selling alcohol to a person who is drunk. It is evident to anyone that this offence is committed in massive numbers every day and every night on licensed premises - a trawl round the House of Commons bars would be highly productive. Surely if the Police were more active in prosecuting Licensees who offend , it would result in lower levels of offence as they would be threatened with losing their license and livelihood.

It can only be assumed therefore that the Police refuse to implement the law.