The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for sale, or allowing sale of alcohol to a person under 18, England and Wales 1997 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
A Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) can also be issued for the offence of sale, or allowing sale of alcohol to a person under 18, this information has been included in the table.
These are the latest data available.
Proceeded against Found guilty Total PNDs issued4 1997 215 126 n/a 1998 311 158 n/a 1999 205 115 n/a 2000 132 56 n/a 2001 158 53 n/a 2002 170 105 n/a 2003 616 419 n/a 2004 861 608 113 2005 1,084 772 2,058 2006 1,199 854 3,195 2007 693 525 3,583 2008 459 366 2,824 n/a = Not applicable. 1 Data includes the following offence descriptions and corresponding statutes: Selling etc intoxicating liquor to person under 18 for consumption on the premises—Licensing Act 1964 S. 169 A & B as added by Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 S. 1, Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983S.3 [Sch. Para. 4(1)]. Sale of alcohol to person under 18—Licensing Act 2003 S. 146. Allowing sale of alcohol to person under 18—Licensing Act 2003 S. 147. Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18—Licensing Act 1964 S. 181A(1) as added by Licensing Act 1988 S. 17. Persistently selling alcohol to children—Licensing Act 2003 S. 147A as added by Violent Crime reduction Act 2006. 2 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 the 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. 3 The ‘total proceeded against’ statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 4 First year of PND scheme. PNDs were rolled out nationally on 1 April 2004. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice