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7. LIQUOR LICENSING LAW OFFENCES
In the period since the introduction of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, the number of liquor licensing offences recorded by the police fell overall, though there were periods of increase in the mid 1980's and mid 1990's and more recently in the last few years ( Chart 7). The total number of such offences recorded in 2005-06 was 1,380 compared with 1,332 in 1980 ( Table 11). The most common type of liquor licensing offence recorded by the police in 1980 was a person under the age of 18 buying or consuming liquor in a bar, accounting for 50 per cent of all offences. More recently, the most commonly reported offences have been purchasing liquor for the consumption by a person under the age of 18 and the sale of liquor to a person under the age of 18 (30 per cent and 26 per cent of the total 2005-06 offences respectively).
Chart 7 Liquor Licensing offences in Scotland, recorded by the police, 1977 - 2005-06
Financial penalties are the most commonly imposed sentence by the Scottish Courts for liquor licensing offences. In 2005-06, of the 167 convictions where a liquor licensing offence was the main offence, 83 per cent resulted in a financial penalty ( Table 12).
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