Drinkers are sold short

Oct 22 2008 by Gregor White, Stirling Observer Wednesday

MORE than half of local bars are selling short measures.

And one pub could face prosecution for cheating its customers

Trading standards officers released the results of the Fair Measure project, a nationwide scheme which targeted licensed premises to see if they were supplying the correct quantities of whisky, gin, rum and vodka.

The project involved 20 out of 32 local authorities in Scotland and the Stirling and Clackmannanshire area was slightly worse than the national average, with 54 per cent of the samples tested being short measure.

In more cases these errors were quite small but larger deficiencies of up to 16 per cent were found.

As a result seven licensed premises in the area have been issued with written warnings and one pub is likely to be reported to the procurator fiscal for possible prosecution.

Neil Chalmers from Stirling and Clackmannanshire trading standards service was also concerned about bars supplying too much drink..

He said: “One licensed premises in the Stirling area was found to be supplying 60 per cent more than expected.

“The police and health authorities in particular are urging people to drink responsibly and to know their limits. This can be very difficult if the amount of alcohol being supplied in pubs varies enormously each time.

“The results of this project emphasise the need for licensees and their staff to receive proper training in all aspects of managing licensed premises and suggest that this is simply not happening at the moment. It is essential that staff in licensed premises learn how to use their measuring equipment properly.

“Consumers need to have confidence in the accuracy of the measures supplied in licensed premises, for all types of alcohol.”