Underage Sales Information Campaign

Trading Standards officers at Staffordshire County Council have spoken about their support for the new campaign, saying how Trading Standards Teams across Central England are working together to protect young people from harmful products.

They say the Right Age, Right Sale campaign highlights the importance of retail compliance, community awareness, and enforcement action in preventing underage access to harmful products. It also provides advice for businesses, parents, carers, and communities on how to spot and report illegal sales.

Anthony Screen, Cabinet Member for Community Safety at Staffordshire County Council said: “Underage sales laws exist to protect young people, but when these laws aren’t followed, it can lead to serious risks to young people’s health and safety.

“It’s really important that businesses are aware of their responsibilities and comply with the law.  By working with them and with the local community and making sure they have the information they need we can all help to prevent illegal sales and protect young people.”

Businesses are being urged to ensure they are following Challenge 25 policies, checking ID properly, and preventing proxy sales (where adults purchase restricted products on behalf of underage individuals).

Trading Standards say that retailers can access free compliance resources online and people can report under age sales to Trading Standards on their confidential helpline on 01785 330356 or at Trading Standards webpage.

The Right Age, Right Sale Campaign is a regional initiative running to Friday 11 July 2025. Its page will take interested parties to the right place for information and support.

The project states that businesses have a duty to be compliant if they supply age restricted products – including alcohol, tobacco, vapes, or knives. Vendors have a legal responsibility to prevent underage sales. Failure to comply can result in:

• Fines of up to £20,000 for underage alcohol sales
• Loss of your licence
• Reputational damage and loss of customer trust

The campaign provides (click on the headings to access):

A Due Diligence Checklist

“Use this checklist to help demonstrate that your business is taking reasonable steps to prevent underage sales.”

A Training Log

“Navigate Compliance with Confidence: Your Pathway to Building Customer Trust.”

An Age-Restricted Sales Toolkit

“This toolkit is designed to help businesses ensure they are complying with age-restricted sales laws and protecting themselves from legal consequences.”

An ID Checklist

“Selling age-restricted products to underage individuals can result in serious consequences for your business. To avoid fines or prosecution, always verify age using an approved form of ID. Use this checklist to aid compliance.”

A Refusals Log Template

“This refusals log is designed to help prevent underage sales. It may help you provide a defence of ‘all reasonable precautions and all due diligence’ in the event of a sale of age-restricted products from your premises.”

e-Learning

“Access our FREE and paid e-Learning courses to get you in right path to compliance.”

Photo Credit:

• Photo by David Griffiths on Unsplash, resized and cropped

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.