Mansfield police clamping down on super strength alcohol

Police in Mansfield are working with local shopkeepers to restrict the flow of high strength alcohol and reduce antisocial behaviour.

Members of the town centre policing team are conducting regular visits to off-licences, convenience stores and other licenced premises to remind owners and staff of their responsibilities as licensees.

They are also demonstrating to retailers some of the negative impacts their sales have on the wider community.

Using this combination of education and enforcement, the team are working in partnership with council licensing officers to restrict sales to people who are intoxicated, and to reduce sales of single cans.

The initiative has already seen promising results, with several local businesses showing a clear change in their approach – documenting refused sales and moving products away out of immediate view.

Super strength beers and ciders are often about 9% proof – more than double the potency of a typical drink.

PC Kevin Marshall, beat manager for Mansfield Town Centre, said:

“This is a classic carrot and stick approach to what is a serious problem for people visiting and working in the town centre.

“We know that the sale of super strength beer and cider directly fuels violence and antisocial behaviour because it is typically consumed by some of our most challenging and chaotic residents.

“We also know that his kind of behaviour – including people urinating and vomiting in the street – is extremely off putting for people visiting our town.

“On one hand we’ve made it clear to local retailers what will happen to them if we catch them breaking the law and selling alcohol to people who are clearly intoxicated.

“And on the other had we’ve appealed to their better nature to think about the negative impact they are having on their community in return for comparatively small profits.

“So far we’ve seen some really promising results. We’ve asked town centre retailers to document their refusals to sell and we’ve seen people turned away for ourselves.

“We’ll be keeping up this pressure for the foreseeable future and hope this collaborative approach continues as we move forward.”